Peace is a Lie
by Lover of Video Games
Summary: Satele Shan is captured by Darth Vatrus. An agent and a bounty hunter are sent on an assassination mission. I suck at summaries, I know. AU, major general spoilers at the beginning of Chapter 3! You have been warned, people who get pissed at that stuff. Also, since it's AU, everything in the game happened earlier, and so Satele is around Vatrus' age, instead of, you know... 60. :D
1. Prologue

STAR WARS: The Old Republic

PEACE IS A LIE

Prologue

It is a time of turmoil for the GALACTIC REPUBLIC. The SITH EMPIRE has launched a new military campaign, sick of sitting and doing nothing while their enemies lick their wounds. The planet TYTHON has been partially invaded, as has CORUSCANT, and both are now key points for trade and military training.

When the Grand Master of the JEDI ORDER, SATELE SHAN, is captured by a powerful Sith Lord named DARTH VATRUS, the Republic sends in HAVOC SQUAD to liberate her. But by the time they find their missing Jedi, will Satele want to be rescued?

On the other side of the galaxy, DIANA KROAN, a top agent for IMPERIAL INTELLIGENCE, and her friend TOBIAS ILIC, the bounty hunter, have been sent to take down JEDI MASTER GRANTUM, a well-known general of the Republic, on the recently-discovered planet of UTAPAU. Little do they know, they're getting themselves into more trouble than they could ever realize…


	2. Chapter 1: Satele

Chapter 1

SATELE

_ Ow._

It was her first thought upon awakening.

Satele Shan's entire body was in pain, the whole of her being aching sorely. She couldn't blink without feeling a white-hot flash of pain shoot through her. Breathing made her feel like passing out. She didn't have time to just sit there and feel like a wraid had just played jump rope with her, though. She had to figure out where she was. One of the basic rules for a potentially dangerous situation was to get to know what was around you before acting. She tried to ignore the aches, and struggled into a sitting position.

It was immediately obvious that she was not in a medbay. She saw that she was inside a ray prison, a small square of space with a high-powered particle shield around it made to repulse solid objects, which meant that she wasn't about to get out of here very easily. The outside world appeared a pale purple through the energy field. From what she could deduce, she was in a holding area of some sort, as there were other, unoccupied ray prison cells throughout the room. The room was quite small and compact, and there was only enough room for the cells and a few torture racks. Judging from the thick layer of dust that covered the room, whoever owned this holding area wasn't big on prisoners. The entire place seemed a bit low-tech, in all honesty. Not a single holocom in sight.

Satele chanced a look at herself to see if she looked as bad as she felt, and her eyes widened. Her entire body was one big bruise. She was covered in lumps of various sizes that all looked fairly serious. That explained the endless pain. She was saberless, which was to be expected, as well as topless, save for a bra, which Satele really didn't expect. She quickly got over it, though. Now was not the time to worry about these things. She tried to remember how she'd gotten here, and the memories came surging back.

**SWTORSWTORSWTOR**

Satele was sitting in her quarters aboard the _Star's Fury_, a large vessel currently under her command. She was currently on patrol around Coruscant, making sure nobody, be it Imperial or simply some gang like the Exchange, would get near the capitol of the Republic. The great planet had been razed before; it wasn't going to happen again. Not on Satele's watch.

This was her third day on this ship, watching for potential threats. Lately, Imperials had been drawing ever closer to Coruscant, and once even began to fire at the _Fury. _They were taken care of. Shan longed for a real bed, not some hunk of metal with a blanket and pillow sticking out of the wall. But that was not an option. Jedi were ever-vigilant, and Satele would be no different. But why did the beds have to be so… _No,_ she thought. _Stop it. You are Jedi. You do not complain. There is no emotion, there is peace._ If only it were easier to keep that saying a fact…

As tensions between the Republic and Empire continued to rise, so did the Grand Master's stress levels. She could not conceive how previous masters kept it together through events like the Great Hyperspace War when she found it increasingly difficult to not strangle her advisors during a time of peace. The Empire really was an infuriating thing, and it was getting more and more difficult to not let that fury show. Satele sighed. No point in complaining to herself about things that could not be changed. She decided to take a little walk.

Shan heaved herself out of the only comfortable piece of furniture on the entire ship and strolled out of her quarters, hands behind her back. Immediately, she was swamped by C2-N2, her ship droid. "Master Shan, so glad to see you again! Can I get you anything? A hot meal? Conversation? Foot massage? Whatever you wish, I'll be happy to provide. Just say the word."

Satele laughed lightly. "No, thank you, Ceetwo," she said. "I'm fine. You're doing a great job." The droid nearly short-circuited. "I… I am? Oh, thank you, Master! Thank you very much!" Satele smiled. "You're welcome, Ceetwo. Now, leave me be, if you will." The protocol droid quickly walked away, doing a little jig as he did so. Satele smiled at the droid's absolute and complete willingness to serve. One would think that they'd at least demand some downtime, but no. They were always working, day in and day out, no matter what was happening. It seemed they actually enjoyed endless labor. She decided not to dwell on the motives of ship droids, and continued her stroll.

It was when she was walking along the bridge, which offered a view into space, that she heard it. It was faint at first, almost inaudible, and Satele paid it no attention. But as she continued to walk, the sound grew louder, and she set out to find the source. It was coming from under a slightly open panel in the wall. The panel didn't look like it was naturally coming off due to rust or anything like that; it looked more like it had been pried open. Unable to help herself, Satele peeked inside, and saw, in the darkness… a red blinking light? Funny; red blinking lights were usually associated with… wait…was that beeping getting faster?

Satele suddenly realized what it was, and ran back down the bridge where she'd come from. She managed to dive through the door just as the bomb went off. There was an ear-rattling_ BOOM, _and the door was nearly blasted off as the explosion rocked the ship, sending the soldiers to the floor. Satele used the Force to solidify the door's foundation so as to make sure it would not be ripped from its frame. There was not a doubt in the Jedi's mind that only space awaited them beyond that door.

When the reverberations from the explosion finally stopped, the lights went out. Leave it to the universe to kick them while they were down. "Lieutenant Sarus?" Satele asked while struggling to stand up.

"Yes, Master Shan?" came a smooth tenor voice from somewhere in the blackness.

"Would you mind finding a way to restore power?"

"Sorry, no can do, Master Shan."

"Why not?"

"The power generators were across the bridge. So was the holoterminal. None of us bothered to bring a holocom because, well… we didn't expect this to happen. Please don't fire me…"

"So, you're telling me that we're stuck out here, orbiting Coruscant, with no power and no way to contact anybody?"

"Yes," came Sarus' meek reply.

Satele sighed. "Okay…" She took out her lightsaber, which illuminated the room a little as the twin blue blades extended. She looked at the faces of her men, and saw mixed emotions among their many faces. Some were shocked, some were puzzled, and some, like Sarus, were just plain scared. She didn't blame them. It wasn't every day that a highly secure Republic vessel was infiltrated, rigged, and half blown up. Satele was looking for something, anything, that could better illuminate the blackness, when a red lightsaber blade went through Sarus' chest. The man crumpled to the floor, and Satele instinctively brought her saber into a defensive position. There was the distinctive sound of several lightsabers igniting, and suddenly, Satele could see at least ten Sith standing there, all purebloods, their faces illuminated by the red glow of their blades. Then they attacked, and the real fun began.

Satele didn't even think about what she was doing. One minute she was standing there, looking at the Sith who had appeared, most likely through the airlock, and the next she was slicing one's body in half. A heartbeat after that she was kicking another in the groin, then running her saber through his body. The soldiers were just standing there, dumbstruck, watching as their commander took on all of the Sith by herself. It was pretty amazing, and in no time flat, the Sith were on the ground, dead. Half of them were missing an arm.

Satele just stood there. She noticed the soldiers staring and snapped at them. "What? If I didn't know better, I would think you'd never seen me defeat a bunch of Sith before."

Shaken from his trance, one of the soldiers spoke up. "Many of us haven't. With all due respect, Master Shan, it would seem that you're cracking under pressure. Jedi are supposed to be calm all the time, no?" Satele just looked at him blankly.

"Somebody please inform the man with the eye and ear problems what is transpiring," she instructed with as much calm as she could muster. With that, she set off to find where they came from and, hopefully, their leader. This was assuming he wasn't one of the corpses now littering the floor of the central room.

As she ran off down the hallway behind the bodies of the Sith invaders, she realized that this was, in fact, the hallway that held the airlock. She decided to put on a breath mask and investigate. She quickly went to her quarters, where she found Ceetwo cowering under her desk. "Ceetwo?" she asked calmly. "Y-Y-Yes, Master Shan?" the droid asked, stuttering madly. "What the hell are you doing?"

"C-Cowering."

"Why?"

"B-Because, in case you d-didn't run into them yet, there are S-Sith aboard the ship. They c-c-came through the airlock, and almost f-found me!"

"I see," Satele told C2 soothingly. "Don't worry. They're dead. I'm going to find exactly where they came from."

The droid was relieved at this, and quickly walked down toward the central room. Satele sighed. He may have been a loyal, hardworking servant, but he had no stomach for violence of any kind. He couldn't even fight. Satele had no time to waste, though. She quickly found her breath mask, then ran to the airlock. She stepped into it, found the button, and opened the door into the void. She hesitated only a second before looking outside. It was amazing how…_empty _it was. To think that this nothingness made up most of the galaxy and beyond… _Focus,_ Satele thought. _There are possible Sith out here. This is not the time to marvel at the endless black. _She found the ladder right next to the airlock, and climbed it. Once she got on top of the ship, she activated her gravity boots to keep herself more or less anchored to the ship's top. She started to explore.

Sure enough, a ways down the ship, there was a moderate-sized Sith vessel atop it. It looked like it could hold a lot of people, but something told her that not many were brave enough to risk flying that hunk of metal. It wasn't even remotely safe-looking. It was covered in rust and dents, black paint chipping to reveal the obviously non-stainless steel. The ship itself was a very new model, from what she could tell. She'd been seeing these kinds of ships all over the battlefield on the Imperial side. _Furies_, they were called. They'd only been out for the last ten years, and it was said that they were almost totally immune to all natural wear and tear, which left Satele standing there, puzzled as to how such an amazing ship, said to be one of the best in the galaxy, was reduced to _this. _But curiosity killed the vine cat, as they say, and she almost died right there.

Without warning, someone kicked her down from behind. The force of the kick was so powerful that she had no hope of keeping her balance. Down to the metal she went, smashing her forehead against it and drawing a small stream of blood. She twisted and looked up to find a figure in Sith robes and a full-face black breath mask standing above her, purple lightsaber at her throat. She could feel the heat radiating from the blade, could hear the steady hum it produced. Lightsabers were one of the deadliest wieldable weapons in the galaxy, as well as one of the easiest to carry. She had no desire to know what that blade felt like while slicing through her flesh. A quick burst of Force to his face sent him flying backwards, but he wouldn't be brought down that easily. Despite the power and accuracy of the blast, the Sith landed on his feet. He and Satele stood there for a while, neither making any attempt to attack the other, just sizing each other up. Much to her regret and shame, Satele broke the silence first.

She sprinted toward him, powered up her lightsaber, and swung it at him. The Sith easily blocked it, as well as her next few strikes. She was simply unable to hit the man, and lost a bit of patience. She threw a bit of her caution into the wind, letting down her guard and going fully on the offensive, which served to unprepared her for what he did next, which was one of the most dishonorable and outright _painful _things she'd ever witnessed. He ducked under her next swing, punched her in the gut, and once she doubled over from that, he kicked her head, sending her to the ground. That did not make Satele happy. She didn't really feel like getting up after that, but it was either that or be impaled. She sprang to her feet.

"Alright, then, Sith," she said through her breath mask. "If you aren't going to have honor, then neither will I."

The Sith just laughed a static-muffled laugh. "In all honesty, Master Shan," he said with his smooth Imperial accent, "I don't think that will help you. You and your fellow Jedi are so wrapped up in your old traditions and fighting styles that your pathetic little minds have no room for anything other than what's by the book."

Satele frowned, her eyes narrowing. "I'll make you eat those words, Sith," she said coldly.

He chuckled again. "Oh, Master Shan, is that really necessary? I'm a grown man; I'm fully capable of providing for myself."

Satele wasn't about to stand here and take this, so while he was busy laughing at his own rude yet clever joke, she attempted to backhand him. Such a technique was dishonorable, but effective, and more importantly, quite necessary. But then he sprung into action. He caught her hand in mid-slap, bent her fingers backwards, causing her to emit a gasp of pain, and then turned around and threw her right over him and onto the metal. Her whole body was in pain. That throw had more than likely broken a rib or two, judging by the especially excruciating pain in that region, and she could barely bring herself to get up. She rolled over and sprang up, sending her feet right into his chest, and following him to the ground, pinning him down. She leaned down close to his face, smiled, and said, "Can't fight dirty, hmmm?"

Suddenly, his hands were on her shoulders, and his head smashed into hers, right where the ship's hull had connected earlier. She stumbled back, clutching her face. Satele opened her eyes in time to see the Sith grab her shoulders once again, bring her close, and drive his knee into her stomach. She was now officially in too much pain to stand up. She fell to the metal, panting shallowly. The Sith put his heavy boot on her chest, sending another surge of pain through her, and she simply couldn't handle anymore. As she slowly drifted off into the blackness, she could hear him saying, "Do you see now, Shan? You can't expand your combat horizons, even for a fight against an obviously powerful and near indomitable Sith _Lord._ I barely even used my lightsaber, Shan! This is why you and the rest of your ilk will always lose." Rude _and _overconfident… Satele was really starting to hate this guy.

**SWTORSWTORSWTOR**

Satele snapped back to reality. So that was what had happened... she'd been captured by that Sith Lord, and was now in a ray prison somewhere on his ship, if the engine sounds were any indication. She was in the middle of wondering why, exactly, she was here, alive, and not ripped to shreds by his lightsaber, when the door to the room hissed open. In came the man himself, the powerful Sith Lord who had somehow managed to capture the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, without his breath mask on. She assumed that she wouldn't get many more chances, so she decided to get a good look at him while she could.

The first thing she noticed was that he was astonishingly handsome. She'd been fully expecting some sort of saggy-skinned, red-eyed, vein-faced mongrel, but she got nothing like that. Her human captor (she had expected another Sith Pureblood, like the others that had boarded her ship) wore the face of a man barely 35, and it was untouched by red eyes, bulging veins, or anything normally associated with a Sith Lord. It was framed by short brown hair swept to the right in the front, and he had the most amazing blue eyes. A red tattoo covered part of his nose and his entire right eye, signifying that, while uncorrupted, he was loyal to the Sith.

His body was lean and well-built, though not so much as to consider him horribly muscular. He was wearing full black xonolite metal armor under an equally black robe, custom-made so that it was perfectly form-fitting. He saw her staring, and smiled, showing very well-cared-for teeth. "So, Shan," he said, a hint of smugness in his voice. "How do you like your accommodations? I tried to get you something better, but there's only so much I can do for Jedi. Anyway, how did you sleep?"

Satele's eyes narrowed. "You must be joking," she said. "I'm topless, in a ray prison, and my body is one big bruise."

The Sith laughed. "Ah, yes, so sorry about that. I tried to tell you that you that you Jedi couldn't improvise and you didn't believe me. 'Twould seem that for all your emotion, you don't have much tolerance for teasing. Prideful little thing, aren't we?"

"You Sith sicken me."

"Why thank you, Master Shan!"

"You're quite welcome," she snarled sarcastically.

The Sith chuckled a bit. "Now, now, Shan, do you really need to be so hostile? From what I can tell, you're going to be here for quite a while. We might as well try to tolerate one another."

Satele's smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "Okay, now you're just being ridiculous. By the way, where, exactly, is _here?_"

He smiled right back at her, more warmly. "Oh, don't worry, dear. Dromund Kaas is very nice this time of year." He rolled his bright blue eyes upward thoughtfully. "Oh, wait…since when was it nice?"

The Grand Master showed no trace of amusement. "Well, at least allow me to ask one question."

"What is it?"

"Why am I not dead?"

"Oh, that's simple. If I killed you back on the top of that ship, which, by the way, is now space junk, I'd have squandered the chances I had for boatloads of fun! Besides, I'm positive that the Grand Master of the entire Jedi Order would fetch quite the stack of credits, no?" The Sith Lord sounded almost giddy about the prospect, although which part excited him more was difficult to guess. With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the room.

"Oh, one more thing?" Satele said. Her jailor turned back to face her.

"Hmmm?"

"Who are you?"

The Sith smiled once again, charming under normal circumstances. "It's Vatrus. Darth Vatrus." And he left for real this time, leaving a stunned Satele to mull over that little piece of information.

**AN: And there you have it! Slightly improved by Laryn Chillbreeze! Thanks a ton!**


	3. Chapter 2: Wan

Chapter 2

WAN

Lieutenant Edruddikus Wan wasn't having the best morning.

The senior Havoc Squad member had just gotten home from a night of heavy drinking at the bar, and was so utterly smashed that he'd almost crashed his landspeeder-what was it?-three times on the way home. The only thing in existence he had any tolerance for at that moment was his bed, so he wasn't what one might call happy when he received a holocall from Commander Zanis Moekno a mere hour after he had fallen asleep saying that he had to get down to HQ at two o'clock AM.

"With all due respect, Commander Moekno," Wan muttered, "What in the goddamn galaxy is so important that you have two wake me up at two in the morning?"

The commander just said a simple sentence that got Wan wide awake. "I'll give you a hint, Lieutenant: It involves Satele Shan."

Wan's drooping eyes flew open and stayed that way as he let the information sink in. One didn't sit around while events that involved the Grand Master of the Jedi Order were transpiring. "I… I see, Commander. I'll be there ASAP. Sir."

"See to it that you are," Wan's CO said. "Moekno out." His floating blue image flickered and then faded, leaving Wan to get ready. It wasn't a very fun experience. Wan wasn't exactly an acrobat in the first place, but when he was stressed and in a hurry, as well as hung over, he couldn't put his chestpiece on without it going on backwards. It took much longer than a minute, but he did eventually manage to get into his white-and-black trooper's uniform. He wiped a bead of sweat off his brow, and hurried out the door.

He reached HQ just as Sergeant Viri Molin did. She was a Mirialan, a race of green skinned aliens that looked almost exactly like humans. She was of average height, with a well-built, athletic body and long black hair tied into a bun. She had the Mirialan tattoo for "soldier" on her right cheek, and her eyes were a beautiful light blue. He fell into step next to the dashing young woman, and she offered him a pleasant little smile which he gladly returned. "So, Wan," she said as they walked through the entryway, "How goes it?"

"Meh, pretty good, for the most part," Wan shrugged. "Or it would be if only I'd gotten a bit more sleep. Sure, I still look as unnaturally sexy as always, but you wouldn't believe the fiasco that transpired getting into these pants…"

Molin laughed sweetly, a pleasant sound that nearly made Edruddikus melt. Why, oh why did she have to be so gorgeous? "Ah, Ed... always with the pants. As for me, the last few days have been quite productive. I helped V5 clean my house, I repaired, cleaned, and calibrated my rifle, and I managed to break the cantina record for number of shots downed in two minutes."

"That was you, ah?" Wan said, smirking. "Well, you wanna guess who beat that record four hours ago?"

Viri's eyes widened ever so slightly. "You did NOT!"

"Oh, didn't I? How else do you explain me arriving at the same time as you?"

"Geez, thanks, pal. I feel so appreciated."

"Hey, come on, Molin! It was just a joke, bud. Oh, here we are. Act all official." They had arrived in the main room in Havoc Squad's compound, the only place where the troops ever really went, as most of the other rooms were for the brains and power generators. Standing there were Commander Moekno, accompanied by a very annoyed-looking Gandred Athos, Viri's fellow sergeant. The super-buff man was sitting in a chair, chin on his fist, and he almost actually smiled when he saw his fellow troops come in. it seemed that he'd gotten there quite a bit earlier than them, and he wasn't happy about waiting. It was typical Gandred behavior.

Gandred stood up and gave a quick salute to Wan. He nodded in acknowledgement, and then gave his own salute to the commander, as did Viri. He nodded curtly, and got down to business.

"Well, thank you all for coming on such short notice, and at such a dreadful hour, but as you know, this involves Master Satele Shan, and the hour of the morning doesn't mean anything when dealing with her. Now, to the point." He stepped over to the holotable and punched in a ridiculously long code that even Wan didn't know into a keypad. This was Moekno's private holotable, and it contained detailed information on everything Havoc Squad had ever done, was doing, or would do in the near future. No wonder it was protected so well.

The commander stepped back, and an image of a standard Republic starship appeared. "This, team, is footage of a ship called the _Star's Fury_. Yes, it doesn't seem that remarkable, and in truth, it isn't. But the thing that makes it so important is that Satele Shan was on it.

"The Grand Master was stationed over Coruscant because she was on watch duty, looking for any signs of Imperial scum trying to come near the planet. For three days, nothing remarkable happened, except for one very small and very quick skirmish with an Imperial ship. Now, I want you to look at the bridge. Seems like nothing special, right? Well look at this."

Suddenly, there was a virtual explosion on the bridge, and one half of the ship went floating off into space. The other half on the ship stayed there, but the lights emitting from it all flickered and died. A small blip appeared on-screen and flew up to the top of the _Fury_. Eleven smaller dots came out of it, and ten of them disappeared over the side of the ship, leaving one, probably to keep the ship ready. "Now, nothing really happens for several minutes here," Moekno said. "I assume that these unwanted guests were fighting Satele and the Republic troops inside."

Inwardly, Wan sighed. Why did he go to the holotable every single time? Why couldn't he be like Tavus and just get to the damn point? _No,_ Wan instantly reprimanded himself. _Don't ever think about that traitorous bastard. He's gone, defected to the Empire. No use reminiscing. Moekno's here now. _He turned his attention back to the table, and just in time. A small figure appeared over the side of the ship, and the stranger used the lack of gravity to jump on top of his ship. The other figure looked around, studying her surroundings. The hostile jumped silently up from the ship and into the empty air just as the other one looked at it, and landed silently behind it. It kicked the other one down, and from there things started to get hairy.

It was first just a lightsaber duel, or Wan assumed it was, as there were several acrobatic spins and slashes being performed by one of them, and its weapon had two blades. Eventually, the hostile figure got in a cheap shot to the gut, then kicked the other's face when she doubled over. It went to the ground, and then got back up. And from there, all manners and etiquette were dropped. It turned into nothing more than a brawl, with backhands, headbutts, and more. Eventually, the friendly figure stopped moving, and the hostile slung it over his shoulder and carried it back onto the ship.

The commander looked over the faces of his troops. "As you probably guessed, that person from the smaller ship was a Sith, and the other one was our very own Grand Master Satele Shan," Moekno explained as he slowly paced back and forth. "Fortunately, our boys did manage to attach a small tracker probe to the hull of the Sith's ship, and we found out where it's headed. It is currently en route to a location deep in enemy territory, and it is now Havoc Squad's mission to go there and bring the Grand Master back."

"And where would that be, Commander Moekno?" Molin asked. Wan already knew, but it didn't prepare him any more for the commander's answer.

"Dromund Kaas."

The room fell silent. Everyone just kind of stood there a moment, letting the information soak in. Dromund Kaas was the capitol planet of the entire Sith Empire, and was also the center of all their might. They had the best detection equipment available, as well as several fully armed Imperial dreadnoughts patrolling the space around it at all times. If one managed to get past all of that, which you had about a 2% chance of doing, you'd soon be face to face with an entire army featuring Imperial turrets, Imperial droids, Imperial walkers, Imperial commandos, Mandalorians, and Sith. There was such a small chance of you getting past all that that most people simply dismissed the very idea of invading or infiltrating Dromund Kaas as impossible. Including Wan.

"Sir, I simply have to know," Athos said, standing up, "Are we getting _any_ help attempting this possibly suicidal mission? Or are we volunteering to be target practice for the Imperial military?"

The commander just grimaced. "I wish… both the Jedi and the Republic rely on us too much, simply because we never fail."

"But surely they couldn't overlook the fact that there's an entire army there! How is a group of four people supposed to sneak past a million soldiers without being so badly shot up that we look like a hunk of Balmorran cheese?"

"Believe me, Athos, if I knew, I'd tell you."

"But-"

"No 'buts', Sergeant. We leave for Dromund Kaas tomorrow. Get some sleep. You'll need it."

The sergeant grumbled and stomped off in a huff, almost kicking open the door because it was a little slow to do so by itself. That left Molin, Moekno, and Wan. "So, um, Commander," Molin said, clearing her throat. "Should we just leave like Athos, or was there something else you wanted to say?"

The commander answered quickly. "No, Sergeant Molin. You can go," He turned to the lieutenant. "You, however, Lieutenant Wan, need to stay. There's a bit of information I need to discuss with you." wan and Molin exchanged looks, and then she left, leaving just him and the commander.

Moekno looked at Wan intently. "Lieutenant," he said, "let's talk about you and Sergeant Molin." Wan raised an eyebrow, but did not interrupt. The commander began to pace back and forth again as he spoke. "Now, anyone can see that you're in love with her."

Wan's eyes widened a bit. "Sir, I have no idea how you would think-"

"Oh, come on, Lieutenant!" the commander said, smirking slightly. "We're both men here. No need to secrets among fellow soldiers. Now, I have no problems with this, nor will I have any complaints if you two ever enter a romantic relationship. I _will,_ however, have a problem with it if it interferes with whatever missions we have in any way. I will be especially intolerant if something happens on this one."

"What could possibly happen that could interfere with our missions? We're professionals – the best in the Republic." Wan protested. Did the commander really have that little faith in him?

"Oh, I can think of several things that could slow the progress of our missions, if you know what I mean," Moekno said, smiling slyly. "But the thing I'm most worried about is you being so infatuated with her that you'll refuse to leave her if she receives a wound that can't be more or less taken care of on the spot."

"Are you asking me to leave behind Sergeant Molin if she receives a serious injury?"

"I'm not _asking_ you to leave her if we ever have to," said the commander, his voice hard and his eyes cold. "If that happens, I will _order_ you to leave her behind."

"That's preposterous!" Wan said, voice rising. "We can't just leave her simply because she'd slow us down if we took her with us. This is Sergeant Viri Molin, and while she is, admittedly, the least experienced member of our squad, what you're asking me to do is just cruel! Nobody, no matter what position, deserves to be left behind to die at Imperial hands."

"I'm not asking," Moekno repeated. "I'm ordering." And with that, he stepped around the furious lieutenant and out the door, leaving Wan alone in the command room. As he walked home that night, all he could think about was those orders.

**AN: Thanks a bunch to Paragon of Awesomeness for his wonderful beta-reading of this chapter! Wooooooo! I miss you, bud!**


	4. Chapter 3: Satele

**AN: Major general spoilers at the beginning here! You have been warned.**

Chapter 3

SATELE

Darth Vatrus was the most powerful warrior in all the Empire, second only to the Emperor himself; he was the Emperor's Wrath, his personal vanguard. The entire Jedi Council knew of and discussed at length his various exploits. Back when he was merely an apprentice, he had defeated the legendary Jedi Master Nomen Karr, and taken his Padawan, Jaesa Willsaam, as his own apprentice. As a lord, he'd wiped out several of the Republic's greatest military leaders, and crushed Darth Vengean, a member of the Dark Council. And when he finally became the Emperor's Wrath, he'd systematically torn down everything his treacherous former master, Darth Baras, had spent decades building in a matter of weeks.

While Vatrus was notorious for leaving a trail of destruction everywhere he went, according to some reports Satele had received from the few Jedi who had survived encounters with him, Vatrus had a strange code of honor – such as always following through on his promises and never taking a life when it was unnecessary – and his methods for achieving his goals were quite unusual, especially for a Sith. Nobody knew why he did the things that he did, though some speculated that Darth Vatrus secretly walked in the light. Considering that Satele wasn't dead or being tortured right now, Vatrus' merciful reputation seemed to have at least a little truth to it. He really was an interesting specimen.

Still, nobody could deny that the man had slaughtered countless Republic troops and Jedi Knights with nothing more than his extraordinary command of the Force, and the help of a few strange yet talented individuals he'd picked up in his travels. She'd have to be careful around him, because for all his fabled mercy, he was still a Sith, and a very clever and powerful one at that. He'd tricked Master _Satele Shan _into fighting dirty, and had won hands down. This would not be an easy situation to get out of.

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"Rise and shine, Shan!" came the voice of her Sith Lord captor. Satele groaned, rubbing her eyes and struggling to sit up. '_Damn these ray shield prisons!'_ Satele thought. '_You can't even sleep properly in them.' _

"Oh, come now, Shan," Vatrus said, smiling as she turned to glare at him. "I thought you'd be happy to see me! I have, after all, given you these wonderful accommodations, have I not?"

Satele kept a straight face, and replied with a simple, "Well, if it isn't my Sith Lord friend, Darth Vatrus. What a wonderful surprise."

Vatrus smiled. "Now that's more like it! Tell me, did you manage to get a good night's rest?" His smile grew wider, as if he knew the answer.

Satele rubbed her aching back and said, "Surely you're joking. Last I checked, ray prisons weren't exactly comfortable to sleep in."

Vatrus chuckled. "You'll have to forgive me for not being a proper host, Master Satele. This was the only way I could make sure my little prize won't escape. That would be absolutely dreadful for my reputation! I'm sure that my heavily armed crew, stationed at every corner of this ship wouldn't be very happy about it either."

"I see," Satele sighed. "Well, how long do you plan to keep me in here, exactly? I may be your prisoner, but I am technically a higher rank than you are. You are the Emperor's personal kath hound. I am the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. I at least deserve some cushioning in here."

Vatrus smirked. "Oh, I do so love it when you Jedi buffoons try that sort of crap on me. I'm sorry, Master Shan, but you could be the queen of Naboo for all I care. It doesn't change the fact that I despise you and every single last one of your self-righteous Jedi. Be thankful that I'm not going to cause you unnecessary harm while you're in my custody."

Satele thought of what to say next. "Well, can you at least tell me what you plan to do with your 'prize' once we get to Dromund Kaas?"

"Ah, yes, that," Vatrus said, and stopped to think for a moment. "I'm honestly not sure. Why so anxious to be rid of me, Shan? I thought we had something special. Can't you feel the connection between us? At this rate we'll have a Force bond in no time."

Satele gave an insincere smile. "Vatrus, I am known amongst the Jedi for being open-minded, kind, and social. You are making that reputation increasingly hard to live up to."

The Sith Lord just chuckled. "I'm simply doing my duty to the Sith Empire. If I don't annoy the hell out of at least one Republic soldier or Jedi every few days, then I am openly betraying the Empire."

"Aren't you technically betraying the Empire by not at least torturing me? I _am_ a Jedi, correct? Why, I do believe that I _am_! Therefore, by your logic, by not torturing me, the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, you are giving yourself the death mark."

Vatrus laughed. "Great comeback, Satele, that's an absolutely amazing intellect you have. I must admit, you make a good point. But you see, aside from me and the people on this ship – whom are completely and utterly loyal to me, I should add – nobody in the Empire knows that you're my prisoner, and I intend to see that it's kept that way. Why let others know when I can have boatloads of fun all by myself? I never did like sharing my toys. Not even as a child." He suddenly froze, and a beeping could be heard from the adjacent room. "Oh, you must excuse me, Shan. I have to take this. I realize that my absence will be heartbreaking, but I need you to be strong. I promise I'll be back soon!" And with that, he strode off through the doors and into the other room.

Once he was gone, Satele smiled to herself. "Crazy Sith… aren't you the odd man out?"

She crossed her legs and began to meditate. A small part of her mind wanted her to think about Vatrus' handsome features, his merciful tendencies, or even his strange, yet undeniable charms. But the instant she became aware of this, she reminded herself that she was a Jedi.

'_There is no emotion…'_

**AN: Thanks once again to Paragon of Awesomeness, who is, by far, my best supporter (no offense to you others, you're great), and who helped me make this chapter what it is. He's a very talented beta reader, especially for grammar, detail, and SWTOR lore mistakes. I send him the chapter, he adds some detail and works out the grammar mistakes. It's thanks to Paragon that my story has this many positive reviews. Anyway, Paragon fanboyness aside, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'm hoping to get the new one up in a week or so, maybe less. Until then, ta-ta!**


	5. Chapter 4: Diana

Chapter 4

DIANA

The holoterminal in front of the young woman known as Cipher Nine, once known as Diana Kroan, flickered to life. She stared emotionlessly as the image of Darth Vatrus appeared before her. The Sith Lord looked over her appraisingly, as if trying to find out why, exactly, she was on the other end of the holo. "Ah, Miss Kroan, good to finally meet you, even if it isn't in person. Forgive me for saying so, but I was expecting someone with a reputation such as yours to be a little older. Though considering my own history, I probably shouldn't be one to judge you based on your age. But this is all besides the point."

Comments as to her age wasn't something that Diana hadn't heard before. Whenever she met a new contact, they were always skeptical as to her abilities and what they automatically assumed to be a lack of experience due to her youth, yet she always proved them wrong. They never seemed to be able to see past her youthful figure to her flawless performance record. And her allies weren't the only ones that thought she wasn't dangerous – many of her enemies usually made the grave mistake of underestimating her, a mistake that often cost them their lives. There was, however, one thing this Sith had said that bothered her.

"My lord, how do you know my name? All records of my past life were wiped or put under lock and key when I became an Imperial Cipher." She refused to let this Sith see the seed of panic that had begun to grow in her.

The Emperor's Wrath gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Please, Miss Kroan – can I call you Miss Kroan?"

"Call me what you like, my lord."

"Thank you," Vatrus said. He then continued. "My authority, as well as my clearance, is equal to the Dark Council's, if not higher. It took a fair bit of digging, and quite a few holocalls, but I was able to find your records. I've read your file, Diana Kroan. All of it. Even the parts that the Minister of Intelligence didn't want me to."

The message was painfully clear to the Cipher agent. Darth Vatrus knew something that only a very small handful of people in the entire galaxy knew: He knew who she was.

Wanting to end their discussion on this particular topic, Diana did what she did best when receiving a mission, and went straight to business. "Darth Vatrus, you contacted my superior, Keeper, about hiring an agent for a top secret operation. You said you needed an operative that could handle any situation, eliminate any target, and do it all with complete anonymity. I am that operative. What is it that you require, my lord?"

Vatrus' lip twitched upward on an involuntary grin. "Straight to the point, I see. I think you and I will get along just fine. I have a bit of business that will require my direct attention soon, so we need to finish this holoconference quickly."

Vatrus began to pace back and forth. "As you no doubt know, the Empire recently discovered the sinkhole planet of Utapau, a world located in the Outer Rim."

Diana nodded. Who didn't? The news had spread like wildfire across the galaxy.

"Unfortunately," Vatrus said, "the Republic discovered it soon after we did, and has managed to secure a rather large foothold in the northern part of the planet. Now let's be clear: I'm not asking you and whoever you have help from, if anybody, to completely obliterate the Republic's presence on Utapau, though it wouldn't hurt to snipe a few commandos while you're there. No, the man that you are being sent to kill is a distinguished Jedi Master and Republic general named Grantum Ovan. He has been a thorn in my side for far too long, and I need him dead. You will be my instrument of execution."

Diana frowned. "With all due respect, my lord, how do you expect me and one or two other people to sneak past thousands of Republic troops and kill a man who is apparently capable of sabotaging the plans of the Emperor's Wrath?"

Vatrus scowled for just a second. "You'll have to forgive me for being blunt, but it's really not your place to ask why I do the things I do, only to obey orders. I will grant you the knowledge that normally I prefer to take care of my own dirty work, but unfortunately the task I am currently occupied with cannot be abandoned, and if I let Ovan slip through my fingers now, there's no telling where or when he'll turn up again, or what kind of havoc he'll wreak on the Empire during that time. I need the best the Empire has to offer in order to take down Master Ovan, and apparently that's you. You yourself said that you can handle any situation, and eliminate any target, and now you're going to prove it. Now, plot a course for Utapau, find a way to get past the Republic lines, and infiltrate their command centre. Once you're inside, find Jedi Master Grantum Ovan, and kill him. Vatrus out." And with that, the Emperor's Wrath faded from sight.

"Can you believe that guy?" asked a deep, gravelly voice from behind. Diana turned and couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face at the sight of the smirk on Tobias Ilic's face. The massive, muscular Chiss stood leaning against the wall, apparently listening to the entire conversation.

Diana grinned. "Now, now, Tobias, you know that you're not supposed to poke fun at the extremely rich overlords who give you all the money for your shiny gear as well as those fancy toys of yours that go boom. I'll admit that it's amusing from time to time, but somebody is eventually going to take it the wrong way and either stick a lightsaber through your gut, put a blaster bolt through your forehead, or maybe even just choke you through the holo."

Tobias rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mother…"

"I'd like to meet this mother of yours someday. She seems like a person I would agree with, don't you think?" Diana smiled. "Anyway, my old friend, how much of that did you hear?"

"Enough. The guy is too busy with his Sith crap to go in with his own force and kill one cranky Jedi. Big whoop. I've never heard that one before." He sighed. "Ah, well. That guy's some big-shot overlord dude, right? Isn't his title like the Wrath of the Emperor, or something?"

"His official title is the Emperor's Wrath, though most simply refer to him as Darth Vatrus. According to what little I can dig up – and believe me when I say I dug _very_ deep – he was specially chosen by a very secretive group of Sith Purebloods known only as the Emperor's Hand. Fortunately, there's quite a bit more information on Vatrus himself. It would seem that he has had a very impressive career as a Sith. First, as a simple apprentice, he-"

"YAWN!" Tobias interrupted. "Kroan, when will you figure out that I don't care? If the guy pays the big credits, I'll kill whoever he wants as long as it doesn't run counter to my honour as a Mandalorian."

Kroan fixed her friend with a serious look. "Tobias, I know all too well that you're one of the toughest warriors in the galaxy, but Darth Vatrus is not a man you want to cross. If he was able to find out who I am just because he wanted me to do a job for him, do you really want to find out what he'll do if we make him angry? And before you say that you'll just blast him, now's probably a good time to inform you that back when he was just an apprentice, he fought a Jedi Knight _and_ a Jedi Master at the same time by himself, and won. Today, even the Dark Council fears him."

Diana was immensely relieved and even a little surprised when she saw a flicker of actual caution in the bounty hunter's eyes.

"I'll... do my best to make sure that Darth Vatrus will be a very satisfied customer." The Chiss promised.

Diana stared at Tobias for severel seconds, then shook her head in amazement. She had officially done the impossible. She'd gotten _Tobias Ilic_ to basically say that he'd be _careful!_

Once she'd gotten over her little victory, Diana gave her friend an easy smile."Well, then, Mister Mandalorian Big-Shot, shall we proceed to my ship or not?"

"Lead the way, Agent Kroan."

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"Wow, Kroan," Tobias said, staring at her ship. "How, exactly, does one get their hands on one of these babies?"

This brought a smirk from Diana. "Oh, Tobias. Don't you see? It takes away all the fun if I just told you. Because then you wouldn't be forced to just guess aimlessly, and I would lose a fantastic entertainment source."

The Mandalorian stared at her. "You're evil. You know that, right?"

"You love me and you know it." Diana said, winking.

She was tempted to tell him anyway. The X-70B Phantom really was impressive. It was streamlined, with state-of-the-art radar resistant exterior plating and a next-generation navigation system. The Phantom was given only to the absolute best and brightest of those in service to the Empire, as it was so futuristic that mass production simply wouldn't be possible until the rest of the Empire caught up with its remarkable technology. She gestured to the door, which she had opened with the push of a button. "Shall we?"

Tobias smirked. "Don't mind if I do, agent."

Upon entering the vessel, her personal assistant droid, 2V-R8, rushed to her side. "Master! It is truly a pleasure to see you again! Can I get you anything? Anything at all? As I've said many times before, I function to serve you!"

"Thank you, Toovee, but no thank you. I am fully satisfied right now. Go and… I don't know, polish the windows or something. I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job, as always."

The droid was clearly restraining itself from bursting into some sort of happy dance. It walked down the hallway, whispering gleefully to itself. "She appreciates what I do… she _appreciates_ what I _do_! I _knew_ I was doing something right…"

When Toovee was out of earshot, Tobias burst into laughter. "You've got one of those too? They're hilarious, aren't they? They're always so… servantly."

Diana laughed. "Yes, I suppose that is the best word to describe them, even though it's not an actual word, Tobias."

"You would know that, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would. As an Imperial Cipher, I am required to be highly versed in multiple languages, including Basic. You would not believe how snobby some of the aristocrats I scam information out of are."

Tobias smirked. "Look, Kroan, I could stand here all day arguing over who has to deal with the snobbier people - FYI, I do - but shouldn't we be going to the bridge to plot a course for Utapau or something?"

This brought a smile from the Cipher Agent. "I suppose we should. Oh, and FYI… I do."

This led to a _very_ important discussion between the two friends that occupied their complete attention on their way to the bridge. They each explained in great detail their history with multiple pompous snobs with giant, unearned egos - almost all of which just happened to live on Alderaan. Tobias told his friend from Intelligence about several infuriating members of House Thul, House Girard, and even a couple from House Rist. Diana countered this with several snobby Thuls of her own, followed by the pricks of House Cortess. That was when Tobias pulled out his master card: His experience with Lord Savorin Malfus the Seventh.

When Tobias told his friend that the first thing Malfus had said to him was that no one below his rank was supposed to be within ten paces of him without his permission, her jaw dropped. By the time he was done, she was forced to admit defeat.

When they finally arrived at the bridge, the Cipher Agent sat down in her custom-built, ultra-cushioned, revolving, reclining captain's chair. It was probably the most useful thing she had ever installed, in her mind at least. Never mind the retractable missile launcher; sleeping while on the job beat that by a landslide. While most of her coworkers in Intelligence would probably not agree (and her superiors definitely wouldn't), nothing was ever going to convince her otherwise.

"Well, Tobias," Diana said coolly, falling back into the role of the cold, calculating Cipher Nine. "Shall we proceed with our mission?"

"Yes," The galaxy's most famous bounty hunter agreed. "Let's."

And with that, Diana punched in the coordinates. Their mission had now begun.

**AN: Special thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing yet another chapter! Best. Beta reader. EVER! I highly recommend him. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**


	6. Chapter 5: Wan

Chapter 5

WAN

"Welcome aboard this XS Freighter, everybody!" said the well-built, dark-skinned woman who greeted the members of Havoc Squad as they stepped onboard the starship. "My name is Captain Nalah Atar, and I will be guiding–well, sneaking, really–you into Imperial space. In the meantime, can I get you lovely soldiers anything to drink? Alderaanian wine, maybe? I guarantee it'll wash away your worries."

Wan looked over to his CO. "Commander, with all due respect, why is it that Havoc Squad, the most elite squad in the Republic Armed Forces, is going into Imperial space on a _freighter_?"

"Because nobody would suspect a freighter, Lieutenant, and because the captain happens to know how to get to Dromund Kaas without raising the Imps' radar. She's a smuggler, you see."

"So," Gandred said, "we're going into the heart of Imperial territory on a freighter that doesn't have nearly enough guns for my liking, which is piloted by a smuggler who, for all we know, could be an Imperial operative, or a sympathizer, or something. Yeah, that's great, Commander, because that _always_ works. If by some miracle I don't die on this mission, let alone actually make it back to Coruscant, I'm gonna recommend you for a big kriffin' shiny medal."

"Trust, me, bud, I'm no Imp sympathizer," the captain said, coming back with a large bottle of what Wan could only assume was that wine she was talking about earlier. "I'm simply enterprising. I will gladly transport cargo for any faction, be it the Republic, the Empire, or even the Chevin Conglomerate. You get more credits that way." This brought a huff from the sergeant. He seemed like he was going to say something, but then changed his mind.

"So… how much of that wine do you have, Captain? Willing to share?" Commander Moekno asked, making an attempt to lighten the mood. Wan simply smirked and walked away, leaving his commander, who was attempting to open the bottle with his bare hands.

He went to a spare room and thought of what the commander had said about leaving Vir- _Sergeant Molin_ behind if he had to. Was he really serious about that? It had troubled Wan the entire time he was trying to fall asleep in preparation for this mission. He was pretty sure he'd even had a dream about it, though he couldn't be sure.

What was Wan to do? He had to admit, the sergeant would probably be little more than dead weight on a place like Dromund Kaas. And yet… he couldn't just leave her. Could he? If he did, he could possibly lose his job and probably his life. He thought some more, until he heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, Wan," a voice called. "Are you in there?"

For the love of… "Um, yeah," he called back. "I'm in here. You, uh, wanna tell me something?"

The sergeant opened the door and walked in. She stood next to him, following his pacing pattern. "I just wanted to talk to you about this mission we're doing. Seeing as you're the squad's second in command, and the CO is currently engaged in a wrestling match with that bottle, I decided to talk to you. Do you, by any chance, have some tips for fighting when heavily outnumbered? I read what I could on Havoc's file as soon as I was recruited, and I read quite the impressive story about how all of you stood with only a few other soldiers against something like, two hundred Imps. Care to enlighten me on how one does that?"

Wan smirked. "Well, Sergeant Molin, that takes years of training to pull it off correctly. Now according to your file, you completed your basic training at the top of your class on Brentaal, and when offered the chance to join the Republic SpecForce, you accepted, and trained on Quesh." This brought a nod from the sergeant. "Well, to receive the amount of training to properly hold against up to twenty times your force's numbers, you have to train for... probably at least five more years. That is 1825 extra days on that horrible poisonous planet. You know how bad it is over there, with the frequent and sudden changes in climate, the native wildlife, all of those toxic swamps, and now it's even contested by the Imps... all that, for another 1825 days."

Molin smiled. "Well, that's all fine and dandy, but that really wasn't what I came here for, honestly. What I wanted was tips, Lieutenant. Tips, Wan, not an entire rundown of all the crap one goes through when training. I'm sure there's something you can tell me."

Wan smiled. "Well, if you wanna be simple… Are you sure you don't want the full rundown? I could tell you of my harrowing rescues and bold attempts, or… something. You really don't want that?"

"No!"

Wan laughed. "Yeah, I didn't think so. I'm just messing with you. So, tips… Oh! Here's a golden one: Stay. In. Cover. You get to a place where they can see you, and your friends will be sending a hole-riddled corpse home to your loved ones. Also, use grenades. Keep lots of them handy when you know you're going up against a large force. Hell, keep them with you even when you're in a small skirmish. It never hurts to have something that can make a crater. Third, always carry a big gun, and lots of ammo. And even have a smaller gun that you can draw and reload quickly for when your enemies catch you by surprise. Make sure it has lots of ammo too." Wan paused as he tried to think of something else. "Well... that's it, really. Makes me wonder why I needed five years to learn that. I'm sure there's more, but… it was just so boring on that planet sometimes that I found it hard to pay attention. If it wasn't for this war, I probably would've forgotten it all by now."

The Mirialan woman laughed. "Well, Ed, I suppose I should thank you for those 'helpful' tips, but I'm kind of craving some of that that wine right about now, and it really sucks to wait. Although... I wouldn't mind just spending some time chatting with you."

Wan's eyes widened just a bit. Spend time with him? What did that mean? Was that a come-on, or did she really just want to talk? Damn, women were so confusing. Did they feel for you, did they not, were they just teasing you when they flirted, or were they actually implying something? Wan was freaking out, so he came up with the first answer that popped into his head: "Sure. Whatever, y'know?"

'Whatever, y'know'? Wan thought. I'm not a teenager! I don't say 'whatever'. Apparently, the sergeant thought the same thing, and chuckled. "Wow. If that was some sort of attempt at being cool, then I suggest you stick with what you did before."

Wan flushed. "I feel like I should scold you or something, being your superior officer, but I just agree with you too much to do that. But, I'm going to make an attempt anyway." He cleared his throat. "Sergeant Molin, I demand that you apologize to your superior officer. That was extremely inappropriate, and I expect you to say sorry... or something... Okay, I admit, that was terrible. Please don't laugh at me."

"Yeah… don't ever do that again. Leave it to the stuffs like Moekno. I don't know much about you, but I think he's got enough broodiness in him to rival the Imps."

Wan laughed. "Yeah, it's really pretty ridiculous sometimes. He's also not willing to let anything get in the way of a mission. He actually wanted me to- you know what, never mind. Forget I even mentioned it." He mentally slapped himself. How could he have considered that? He couldn't just tell her! Telling her would destroy her optimistic personality that he'd come to love. If he kept her spirits high, she could still look at him with those wonderful blue eyes, those eyes that just made him melt. He'd still be able to hear her her, laugh, and see her smile, and continue to appreciate everything else about her.

There was no way he could simply leave her behind. But if he got involved with her, they'd probably both be discharged from Havoc Squad the moment they got back to Coruscant. Maybe even sooner. "I have to go," he said, and walked out the door. He was partially down the hallway when he found her gentle touch on his shoulder. "Wan, what is going on? What do you need to tell me?"

The lieutenant sighed. "I'm… I'm afraid that's classified."

"From another member of Havoc Squad?"

"Yes."

The sergeant frowned. "Come on, Ed. We're all in this together, and I have a feeling it involves me somehow. Now, tell me what's going on." This brought another sigh from the lieutenant. "I'm sorry. That's just not an option." He left her, walking back towards where the rest of the squad was waiting.

When Wan arrived in the mess, he witnessed the commander still trying to open the damn bottle, while Nalah looked as if she were about to die of laughter. Wan sighed, ripped the bottle from his commander's hands, and undid it with a sharp twist. He then proceeded to sit down and pour himself a glass. Everybody watched in silence for a few seconds, until the captain suddenly burst out laughing. "Oh my _god_, you have no idea how funny that was!" she said, wiping a tear. She laughed more. Eventually, she stopped, and tried to regain her composure. "Anyway, why don't we get you soldier boys off to Dromund Kaas, hmm? I have stuff to pick up and transport back here after this run, so why don't we get going?" With that, she walked off to the bridge.

Gandred stared at Wan, who was sitting there, pouring a second glass. "Well, um… I have a feeling that you, Wan, are in a state of stress or something, so I'm just gonna... leave now, okay? Okay. I'll be seeing you." And with that, the sergeant left, leaving, yet again, just Moekno in the room with Wan. The other man sat down next to the lieutenant. "Wan, you're always so damn gloomy. What is it this time? Did Molin do something?"

Wan looked up. "Sort of. It wasn't really her fault. I… sort of… almost let it slip that I was ordered to leave her behind, should the situation demand it."

Moekno stared at his XO for a while. Then all of a sudden, an armored hand whipped out and slapped Wan across the face. "ARGH!" he said, clutching his face.

"God dammit, Wan!" the commander snarled, drawing his hand back. "I really didn't like doing that, but you can't just spill the beans! It's not that hard. You have no idea the kind of secrets I keep from all of you! I've been keeping them for years!"

"Secrets? What kind of-"

"_Don't interrupt me_, _Lieutenant_!" Moekno roared. He suddenly seemed to realize how loud he was being. He lowered his voice, coming closer to Wan. "Listen, Lieutenant. I know that you care about her, and that you don't want to leave her, but I'm going to tell you why we have to."

"Why, Commander?" Wan asked, growing a little bit annoyed. "Why do we need to leave a good soldier to either die out in the wilderness of be tortured for information by the Imps? You know they'll take her, so don't even try to convince me otherwise. We're Havoc Squad, sir."

"We leave her because she could very well hinder our mission, Lieutenant," Moekno said, getting angrier himself. "We have four, count 'em, _four_ men for this mission, a mission which involves rescuing Satele Shan, Grand Master of the Jedi Order, and one of the most powerful Force users in the galaxy. That, Wan, is why we may need to leave her. Four soldiers against an army is bad enough. Three soldiers and a green-as-grass recruit against an army that doesn't know the meaning of the word mercy... If we fail, Satele will still be in Sith custody, and the greatest squad in the Galactic Republic will be tortured by the Empire's inquisitors until most, if not all, of the Republic's secrets are revealed, and then we'll be killed, or left to rot in a vegetative state. We will have sealed the Empire's victory, and the Republic will become a thing of the past. That, lover-boy, is why we'll leave her, or anyone else, if we have to. I'll see you when we get there." And so Moekno departed, leaving Wan, yet again, to think about what had been said.

**AN: Yes, it's sort of a filler, and yes, I think it might be considered a bit angst-y, but I couldn't really think of anything to write. I didn't want them to just get there**


	7. Chapter 6: Satele and Vatrus

**AN: MEGA UBER SPOLIERS. Do not read the conversation with Jaesa if you no likey.**

Chapter 6

SATELE AND VATRUS

_'There is no emotion, there is peace,'_ Satele thought, remembering and reciting the Jedi Code in her head for what seemed like the thousandth time in a row now. _'There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony.'_ Satele frowned a little at this one, wondering how anyone could believe those words during times of war, when death and destruction seemed to reign. _'There is no death, there is the Force.'_ Satele opened her eyes, and sighed. There was nowhere to go and nothing to do within the confines of the ray prison. She had hoped that Vatrus would at least give her something to move around with the Force to keep her occupied, as that required much concentration.

The door where Vatrus had entered earlier opened, and the Sith Lord strode through, with that smile of his that was both charming and infuriating. "Ah, Satele," he said, stepping up to the edge of the prison. "I apologize for taking so long, and I apologize again for having to leave. Yes, I know, you can't go on without me, your heart feels like it's being ripped out of your chest... Feel free to insert something cliché and sappy here. But don't worry, Satele. I've brought you a friend to keep you company."

Satele looked up, face inquisitive. "Oh, this should be good. I assume that by 'friend', you mean 'guard'? Maybe even 'torturer'?"

Suddenly Vatrus turned serious."I am not needlessly cruel, Satele. I promised that I would not cause you unnecessary harm while you were in my custody, and I keep my promises. While she is instructed to make sure you stay in there, I have a feeling that, considering her history, you two will actually get along quite well. Now, I must depart. You two ladies have fun, yes?" The Emperor's Wrath walked through another door, and disappeared. A moment later, a girl came through, carrying some basic foodstuffs: a sandwich, a glass of water, and what appeared to be an overbaked cookie. She was perhaps 23. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and was a bit smaller than most women. Satele had seen her before. She was-

"Jaesa Wilsaam?" Satele asked, pure shock in her eyes. "I never thought that I'd see you again."

"Nor I you, Grand Master," the ex-Jedi said, kneeling. "I was asked to bring you some food, and well… that's what you get when you try to teach someone with no culinary skill to cook. I'll send it through to you." She walked over to a counter with a panel on it, put the tray on the panel, pressed a button, and sent the food down some sort of pipe. A panel that Satele had never noticed before, somehow, slid back, and the food slid out.

Satele looked at the food, then back up at Jaesa. At last, she gave a small exasperated sigh. "Leave it to a Sith Lord to install a food tunnel."

Jaesa offered a tiny smile in return. "I… I realize that it must be a bit disheartening to see me as a Sith's apprentice, but I assure you, I have not been corrupted by the dark side, Master Satele."

"Yes, I can see," Satele said, looking at Jaesa closely, inspecting her any sign of dark side corruption. She found nothing - no pale skin, no yellow eyes, no bulging veins. "Would you mind telling me why that is? And as you do, could you also explain how the Emperor's Wrath is merciful, honorable, sometimes even kind, and anything but corrupted?"

Jaesa looked away for a moment, blushing slightly. "I'm… not supposed to talk about that. I realize that you're the Grand Master and all, but... technically, I am no longer a Jedi."

The Jedi Master was a little bit disappointed, but she would not push. It was not her place. "Well, can you at least tell me what it's like? You know, working with Vatrus, being his apprentice? If I had any credits, I'd bet them that it's not the same as when you were under Master Karr's tutelage."

The young woman smiled. "It's actually not as bad as you might think. Yes, he is a Sith, but I'm sure you've heard the rumors. I'm not allowed to tell you everything, but I'll tell you that they're true - most of them, at least. He's not an evil man. Yes, he kills people, but he wouldn't even consider killing an enemy who couldn't fight back, and would never go near a child with anything but candy on him."

"But surely there are some things that you wish were different. He can't be perfect. Nobody is, let alone a Sith."

"Well, of course, but they aren't major problems. He could afford to be a bit cleaner, for one thing. Our 2V unit always lets out what I can only assume is some sort of robotic sigh whenever it goes to clean his quarters. He could also get this ship a new paint job. He got the dents and scratches from various missions given to him by the Ministry of War. He likes to think of them as battle scars. I personally don't have a problem, but another crew member, Vette, considers it a disgrace to the ship, and everyone on it."

Satele was the slightly surprised at how few bad things Jaesa could come up with. She'd expected to hear a torrent of complaints and suggestions come spilling out, but she could only name seven in total. The only things that really made Jaesa uncomfortable, it seemed, were the mannequins shaped like Darth Baras that Vatrus used for practice, and from the way Jaesa said it, it didn't seem like she was too surprised. This made Satele wonder exactly what Baras had done to the Wrath before Vatrus had cut him down. According to Jaesa, most of the rumors were true, so why did Darth Vatrus, the most honorable-seeming Sith in history, hate this man so much? Satele didn't know the answer to that question, and she wanted to change that, so she asked. After all, the Jedi Code taught that there was no ignorance, only knowledge.

"Jaesa, I've followed Vatrus' career as a Sith ever since he defeated Nomen Karr. And while I know that he eventually turned against his old master, what no one really knows is why."

Jaesa seemed a bit surprised that Satele actually wanted to know. "Well, we don't talk about that much, but I might as well tell you. You're suffering enough just being in that ray prison." The former Jedi sighed. "Baras was probably the first person Vatrus ever trusted. He taught my master almost everything he knows about being a Sith, and gave him the key to his first lightsaber, which was, in fact, Vette, who apparently was a slave at the time. Baras sent him on many missions, displaying the utmost trust in him, and so Vatrus thought to return the favor, if to a smaller extent.

"Eventually, Baras entrusted Vatrus with a galaxy-spanning chase to find Master Nomen Karr, who nowadays can be seen muttering to himself in his cell, and myself, as my special power posed an enourmous threat to Baras' spy network.

"He crippled the Balmorran resistance, several gangs on Nar Shadaa, hundreds upon hundreds of Sand People on Tatooine, and several noble houses on Alderaan, all in his chase to find me. He eventually came face to face with my former Master, and in the battle, Nomen Karr became desperate, and in his determination to win at any cost, he tapped the dark side, becoming hideously disfigured and corrupted in the process. When Vatrus left Master Karr beaten and broken, but alive, I used my power on my old Master, and realized that I had been deceived. I felt betrayed, confused, angry, but Vatrus took me in as his apprentice. He gave me a home, when I had nowhere to go, and a purpose when all seemed lost to me.

"As if Vatrus didn't trust Baras enough by then, the Darth promoted him to the rank of Sith Lord. After a short break, Vatrus eliminated General Gonn, and after that he was sent to eliminate the War Trust, which displayed a ridiculous amount of trust on Baras' part. After that, Vatrus killed Admiral Monk, and finally neutralized Jedi Knight Xerender. After that, at the behest of his master, he killed Darth Vengean, a member of the Dark Council, with the help of Lord Draahg, Baras' other apprentice, which meant that Baras himself inherited his seat on the Dark Council.

"Now, here's where Vatrus started to hate Baras. The Darth sent him back to Quesh, where he discovered that a team of Republic commandos had been sent to blow up a cavern directly underneath the Imperial command center there. Vatrus stopped the commandos - although it helped that the detonator that they had for the explosives they'd set up didn't work - but after that, he was contacted by Lord Draahg. It turned out that the commandos had been sent there by one of Baras' agents within the Republic, and the entire thing was actually a trap for my master, and Draahg had the real detonator. In spite of everything that Vatrus had done for Baras, the Darth only saw Vatrus as a threat to his power base. Draahg collapsed the entire cavern on my master, but miraculously, Vatrus survived, and when he rose, his desire for revenge all but consumed him."

Satele sat back. "I never realized that Vatrus went through all that." Jaesa smiled sadly. "Not many do. Then again, not many know much about him or his history. I realize that he's a Sith and all, and you'll probably want to get under his skin in one way or another, but please, don't mention Baras' betrayal. The last time I mentioned it, he Force pushed me onto my bed, and locked me in my quarters for a whole day. The only time I've ever seen him that mad was when he actually fought Baras."

"I won't mention it," Satele promised. "After all, he already has me in a ray prison. I dread to think of what might happen to me when he locked away his own apprentice for speaking of it."

Jaesa smiled. "Yes, I do too. But, enough about Vatrus' inner dilemmas. I'm interested to hear what's been happening at the Jedi Temple."

"Not much, in all honesty," Satele shrugged. "Fortunately, Tython has been spared from the war so far, but the place is a bit more deserted since we have to send almost every Jedi to assist the Republic in their war efforts. Now, you have told me about Vatrus' experiences, but I know almost nothing about the man himself." She didn't really want to know him, but rather his weaknesses. Though, it would be nice to know the details about all the training that went into that body of his…

'_Stop it, Satele.'_ She reminded herself. _'You're a Jedi.'_ She quickly recited the Jedi Code in her head. _'There is no emotion, there is peace…'_

**SWTORSWTORSWTOR**

Vatrus bellowed a war cry, jumping up and kicking the mannequin in the face. He dropped down, elbowed it in the stomach, then drew his lightsaber and sheared the mannequin's head off. He Force pushed the head to the wall, threw his lightsaber, and let out a satisfied sigh as the blade impaled the head and left it hanging on the wall. His need to destroy his former master, even though he was dead, had come back, as it always did. The Sith Lord Force summoned his blade back to him, and spun it in his hand. He turned to the next mannequin.

After several more gruesome "deaths", Vatrus decided that his level of skill was just as high as it had been two hours before, where he had mangled a mannequin so badly that it looked like something one might feed to an akk dog. He honestly didn't understand this undying hatred for Baras, this need to hurt him, to kill him, even though he had been dead for three years now. Maybe it was because Vatrus had looked up to him for so long. He'd always heard of Sith overthrowing their masters, but he'd never expected Baras to be so paranoid, so desperate to keep his position, that he'd actually be willing to destroy an Imperial command center just to eliminate a potential threat. In any event, Vatrus still hadn't gotten over it, and he doubted he would any time soon.

He perked up a bit at the sound of the ship coming out of hyperspace. They had finally arrived at Dromund Kaas. The Wrath walked over to the bridge, where he found Captain Malavai Quinn sitting in the pilot's chair. "Quinn." He said.

The Imperial man looked up as he heard Vatrus' voice. "My lord, I am pleased to announce that we have arrived at Dromund Kaas. Shall I bring the ship into port?"

"Why don't you let me do it, Captain? It's been a while since I took this beauty for a spin."

"Yes, well, all due respect, my lord, the last time you 'took this beauty for a spin', you ended up giving it several dents as well as a few holes, which left us stranded on Hoth for days until a rescue team showed up, and even after that it was weeks before the ship was flight-worthy again."

"Hey, we both know that happened because a Republic stealth fighter squadron ambushed us. Do you honestly think I don't have enough skill to fly my own ship into the Dromund Kaas Spaceport? I've done it before and I can do it again. Now move over, Captain." He nudged Quinn out of the captain's chair, and took the controls in his hands. He smiled as he felt the familiar hum of the ship, and loved that it was his to command. He took the ship down slowly at first, then sped up as he got used to the feel of piloting again. The Wrath brought it down into orbit and into the spaceport without a scratch. He looked over at Quinn and shot him one of his notorious "I-told-you-I-could-do-it" looks. "Well, Quinn, I'll let you handle whatever needs to be handled. Oh, and would you please be so kind as to make sure nobody - and I mean nobody - is in or around the spaceport to witness the arrival of my… special cargo?"

Quinn smiled. "I'll do that immediately, my lord. Might I suggest that you go and prepare the 'cargo'? You incapacitated her once; I'm sure you can do it again if she gives you trouble."

Vatrus smiled. "Yes, I think I shall. While she has absolutely no mind for unfair fighting, our duel was quite enjoyable." He stood up and walked to Satele's holding area.

When he got there, he saw Jaesa and his Jedi captive talking like nothing was wrong. He did not catch what they had been talking about, and frankly, he didn't want to. It was most likely either 'girl talk' - as the female species called it, though he preferred to call it 'mindless chattering occasionally interrupted by giggles' - or some Jedi nonsense that he had no patience for. Though honestly, who talked about that during their free time? He cleared his throat, and the two women looked up. "Yes, well, I hate to interrupt your discussion, but we have arrived on Dromund Kaas. Jaesa, you may go and gather whatever you need from your quarters. I assume we're going to be here for a while. You may also deactivate the particle shield."

"Master, are you sure that's-"

"Jaesa, I beat her once, and I'll do it again if I have to." Truthfully, he didn't relish the idea of hitting women, but sometimes the situation demanded it. It was stupid, but the rules from his childhood still stuck, because, well, some of them were good. He picked up a pair of cuffs off of the nearest table, and stood in front of the ray prison as it powered down. He watched the Jedi very closely, and saw her right hand twitch. He sidestepped just before her hand shot out to unleash a barrage of Force energy. Instead of hitting him, it made a large dent in the wall. Satele faltered for a second, not suspecting to have missed, and as she did so she let her guard down. Vatrus took this opportunity to punch her in the gut. She doubled over, and in an instant, Vatrus was behind her. He forced her arms behind her back, and he snapped the cuffs on. "Now, Satele, I told you that I'd beat you again if you forced my hand literally ten seconds ago. Now come, the capitol of the Sith Empire awaits us." And with that, he led her out of the room, through the doors of the ship, and onto Dromund Kaas.

**SWTORSWTORSWTOR**

Satele had known the Dromund Kaas had been a gloomy place, but she hadn't expected… this.

It was always stormy, for one thing. The moment she had stepped out of the ship, the air temperature had dropped ten degrees. She looked up at the sky, and saw nothing but dark clouds and an endless stream of rain.

"Welcome to Dromund Kaas, Shan!" Vatrus said, stepping up beside her. "This wonderful planet is going to be your home for quite a while, I imagine, so you'd better get used to the weather. The sun never shines on this world, and the storms are endless."

Satele looked around, and noticed that there was absolutely no life besides her, the Wrath, and his crew. "Vatrus, why are there no people besides us in this spaceport?"

Vatrus smiled. "Ah, yes, that. You see, Shan, you are not exactly something that is commonplace on Dromund Kaas; therefore, many people, including my fellow Sith, would probably sell their own mothers into slavery to get their hands on you if they knew that you were here. That would mean assassinations, ambushes, and several other things that would result in me having to kill many, many people, which I honestly am not in the mood to do right now. So, I had Quinn here clear the spaceport and his surroundings," he said, gesturing to the smiling Imperial. "As you can imagine, they objected when someone wanted them to clear the entire spaceport, but when Quinn informed them that the Emperor's Wrath had requested it, they suddenly became very cooperative."

"So I'm all alone with just you and your crew for the foreseeable future?"

"Yes."

"Perfect."

Vatrus laughed. "I know, it is, isn't it? I'm sure we're going to have a wonderful time together. We're going to learn everything there is to know about one another! What do you think about that?"

"I think I'd rather stay silent if that's what you're going to do for the duration of the trip to… wherever we're going. Where _are_ we going, anyway?"

The Sith Lord smirked. "We, Master Shan, are going to my compound, which is, I assure you, far from the rest of Imperial civilization. Oh, there are a few outposts, but nothing major. We're going to be all alone, just us and my crew, for a very long time. What do you think of that?"

"Peachy." And so they left the spaceport, out into the rain, got a few speeders, and set off for the compound.

Satele was paired with a Talz, but it wasn't anything like any of the Talz she had ever met. It had blue fur, beady black eyes, and a very large vibrosword strapped to its back. Its aura reeked of hatred and bloodlust. It was surprisingly skilled at operating a speeder, even with those large, bulky hands. Not wanting to spend the entire ride in silence, she tapped it on the back. The creature swiftly turned, regarding her with those eyes. It made several growling noises, and Satele was thankful that she had that translation chip in her brain. "[Little Jedi wants to talk?]"

"Erm, yes," she said, slightly intimidated by this massive beast that could easily knock her off the speeder with a swipe of its massive, muscular arm. "Where, exactly, are we going?"

"[We go to stronghold of Sith clan. Did Sith did not tell little Jedi?]"

Satele wasn't sure why the creature spoke so strangely, but she supposed it was to be expected. It obviously didn't know Basic, and the translation chip could only do so much. "Well, he did. I was hoping you could be a little more specific about the location."

"[We go into a mountain. Sith clan's stronghold is in there. Very few know of location]."

"Well, alright. Can you tell me your name, as well as how you came to serve Darth Vatrus?"

"[Our name is Broonmark. Sith found us on Hoth when Sith was hunting Jedi Xerender, who was working alongside the traitors that were once our clan. Our clan was weak, so we cleansed it. When our clan was cleansed, we asked to join Sith clan. Sith clan is strong, and feared throughout the galaxy. Sith knows what it is to be a warrior. We treasure the honor that Sith bestowed upon us when Sith gave us our place in Sith clan.]" The Talz growled.

"What do you think of the Jedi, Broonmark?"

Broonmark snarled. "[Jedi clan is weak. They value mercy and forgiveness, everything that we hate. Jedi clan and Republic clan corrupted Talz. For millennia, Talz clans have been hunters, warriors, but Republic clan changed all that. Republic and Jedi clans demand that Talz clans be "civilized". Sith clan will be the victor in this war because Sith clan embraces their true nature. One day, Talz clans will remember who they truly are, and will join Sith clan.]"

"You say that you despise mercy, yet Vatrus spared me." Satele reminded the Talz.

The beast growled. "[Little Jedi is not true warrior. Little Jedi does not realize that Sith only spared you so that Sith will have great prize to lord over lesser clans. By letting little Jedi live, little Jedi will spread word to other clans that not even the leader of Jedi clan could defeat Sith, and all will know the strength of Sith clan.]"

He then fell silent, and Satele got the feeling that the conversation was over. She hadn't been threatened or shunned, so she took that as a good sign. If she was going to be spending a large amount of time with these people, she might as well try to befriend them. She had Jaesa, but that was mostly because they'd known each other before. Broonmark was going be a different challenge completely. Satele could only hope the rest of Vatrus' people weren't like this ferocious Talz.

After several more hours of riding, they finally came upon a mountain. She looked around, and saw nothing but treetops and one outpost tower in the distance. This seemed to be the place. They came to a stop near the top of the mountain, where Vatrus walked around for a bit, as if looking for something. He finally stopped, and then smashed his foot into the ground. There was a grinding sound, and a chunk of rock slid up. "Welcome to my compound, Shan," he said, smiling as he led her through the doorway. "Get comfortable. You won't be leaving any time soon."

They walked for what seemed like forever, and Satele got bored of the silence. "Vatrus, how can you afford all of this? I realize you're the Emperor's Wrath, but this… this is massive!"

"The answer is actually simpler than you'd think. See, I am feared not only by the Republic, but by Sith and Imperials throughout the Empire, and so I get an awful lot of donations intended to guarantee my continued good will. They don't understand that as long as they stay loyal to the Empire they have nothing to fear from me. But, if they do betray me, no amount of credits will stop me from destroying them. Ah, here we are. These are your quarters." They stopped at a small room. Vatrus opened the door, and Satele hesitantly looked inside. Vatrus stepped up behind her, watching as she inspected the room. It was nothing much, just a decent-sized square of space with a comfy-looking bed and a meditation mat. "Compared to before, this isn't actually that bad, Vatrus. I thought you were supposed to give me something horribly inadequate, like that ray prison on your ship."

Vatrus laughed. "Trust me, Shan, this is horribly inadequate. If you want nice, you should she the crew quarters. If you want _really_ nice, you should see _my_ quarters. Now I'm going to take off these cuffs."

"Why? You do realize that I'll just try to escape."

"I'm not stupid, Satele. I'll make sure you stay put." He swiftly undid her cuffs, then shoved her into the room. Before Satele could regain her footing, Vatrus pressed a button on the console next to the doorway, and a particle shield sprang to life. Satele was trapped.

"Damn, Vatrus. That wasn't what I expected, I'll give you that." Satele gave him an insincere smile.

He smirked. "Yes, I thought you might like that touch. Well, I have things to do, and dinner won't be served for another hour or so. I suggest you meditate, sleep, or read that book that I put on your bed." She looked over, and noticed that a book was indeed on the bed.

"That boring old thing," Vatrus said, "is a copy of the precepts and history of the Jedi Order that I found in the Green Jedi enclave on Corellia. I hope you enjoy it."

"Very well," Satele said, sitting down to meditate. "But, I have to ask one last thing."

"Yes?"

"Why do I still not have a shirt?"

This brought a grin from Vatrus that could only be described as devious. "Satele, you have to remember, I'm a man, and, well, certain things about you are rather... hard to ignore." She sent him a glare, but as she sat closed her eyes to meditate, Vatrus could almost swear that he saw her blush.

He smiled, and walked down the hall to his personal training room. He hadn't been lying when he'd mentioned her body, she really was beautiful. Now wasn't the time for those sort of thoughts, though. It was time to train.

**AN: Teeheehee. You like? I did.**

**Anyway, I think it's time, yet again, to thank Paragon of Awesomeness, my one beta reader and the only one I need, for his betaing of this chapter. You're great, bud! Keep it up.**

**EDIT: For the record, there WILL be a glossary when I finally this story, so if you were totally overwhelmed/didn't understand stuff, it should help****. Until then, ta-ta!**


	8. Chapter 7: Diana

Chapter 7

DIANA

"We're finally here, huh?" Tobias asked as they came out of hyperspace. "I gotta say, I'm more than a little a little unimpressed."

Diana felt the same way. Utapau wasn't nearly as impressive as she'd thought it would be. Even from space, she could see that the planet was arid, sandy, and to top it off, she could clearly see several sinkholes dotting the planet's surface. "I couldn't agree more, Tobias," she muttered. An inquisitive look came over her face. "It makes me wonder what the Republic and Empire are fighting over. Are there valuable minerals on this world? Perhaps some sort of technology developed by the natives? Or are they just looking to blow off some steam?"

"Yeah…" Tobias muttered, a gleam coming into his eyes. "If it is some sort of mineral, I wonder what it would sell for on the black market…" This got him a little pinch on the arm from Diana. "Now, now, Tobias, this is strictly a professional assassination mission. Perhaps when we're done, we can go sightseeing or… something. Right now, though-"

"Yes, yes, we have to kill the crotchety old Jedi. When does that happen?"

"It happens when it happens, my dear Mandalorian. Now, we're going to contact Darth Vatrus and see what he wants." Without waiting for him to respond, she brushed past him, and went to the conference room.

As she walked, Tobias caught up with her, and fell into stride beside the average-heighted human. "I just have to ask, Kroan," he said as they walked, "why do you always say 'now, now' to me? I realize you envy my mother, but guess what? She said that to a Trandoshan once, and her jaw now has a hole in it... not to mention also being unhinged."

"That just proves that your mother wasn't me. I mean, have you ever met anyone else remotely like me in all the galaxy? Everybody loves me, Trandoshans included. Except that one whose mate I accidentally shot, but I guess that's understandable…"

The massive bounty hunter laughed. "You're right, Kroan. Only you would say something so unbelievably… let's call it braggish."

"We could call it that, but that's also not a word, Tobias! Are all bounty hunters like this?"

"Nah. Just the ones who enjoy pissing off women that are named Diana."

This led to yet another "important" discussion that continued until they reached the conference room. When they got there, though, Diana finally stopped talking, gave Tobias another pinch, and contacted the Emperor's Wrath.

When Vatrus' image finally came up on the surface of the holoterminal, he gave an insincere smile. "Ah, Miss Kroan, and… ah, the infamous Tobias Ilic! I have heard a great deal about you... Such as your tendency to storm in guns blazing." The Emperor's Wrath sent a brief glare at Diana. "Miss Kroan, I don't think I need to remind you that this mission will require precision as well as discretion, neither of which Mr. Ilic is known for, which is why he _has_ the reputation that he does in the first place. Still, this is your mission, and if you believe that you can keep this brute under control, I won't argue. Now, as to the details of your-"

"Brute?!" Tobias suddenly roared. "Is that all you think of me as? Why don't you come over and say that to me in person so I can-" Tobias' words were suddenly cut off, and his hands went to his throat. The bounty hunter looked up and saw Vatrus' hand was raised, and realized that the Sith was choking him. As Tobias continued to struggle desperately for breath, Vatrus continued his conversation with Diana as though it were the most normal thing in the galaxy.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interupted," Vatrus muttered, "I want you to dock in the Pau City Imperial Spaceport, where I have authorized your ship to land, and meet with a Mirialan called Patro Kist. I told him to meet you in the cantina on the ninety-fifth ring of the city." He finally released Tobias, who instantly fell to his his knees as he sucked air back into his lungs, and was about to press the button to end the transmission, when Diana stopped him.

"My lord, a quick request."

"Of course, Miss Kroan. What is it that you need?"

"I was wondering if there was any more advice or information you could give us?"

"Patro Kist will update you on the situation on Utapau, as well as how you'll be able to reach Master Ovan. As for the rest, you're an Imperial Cipher, figure it out." And with that, he turned off the holo, leaving the Cipher momentarily stunned. She quickly snapped out of it, and knelt down to help her wheezing friend stand back up. "Tobias! Tobias, are you all right?"

The galaxy's greatest bounty hunter gave a few ragged breaths before speaking. "Bastard… choked me… stupid Sith…" After a few minutes of support, he straightened up and removed himself from her. "I really cannot believe that you choose to work for those guys. I stood up for myself, so he-"

"Force choked you through the holo like I said someone eventually would? Tobias, let me tell you something right here and now before it happens again: Do not talk back to a Sith. It doesn't work out well, as you just discovered. Now, you can stand there and be mad at him, or do this mission with me so you can be rid of him." And with that, she walked off, back toward the bridge.

**SWTORSWTORSWTOR**

As Diana guided the ship down, she messaged Pau City, and a man gave her the coordinates to the Imperial spaceport. She effortlessly piloted the ship into orbit, and touched down on her designated landing pad. At some point, Tobias had come to stand next to her. His massive size and stern expression would have been intimidating to anyone who didn't know that he had a heart of gold, AKA everyone but his family and Diana. "So, we're here, eh? Again, I have to say, not impressed."

Again, the human woman silently agreed. The spaceport was pretty lacking, and she'd been to Ziost - the planet may have been a dark side focal point, but that didn't change the fact that the spaceport on Ziost… wasn't even a real spaceport. This was definitely better, but it was still pretty shabby. The docking bay walls were bent and rusted in some places. This was probably because the spaceport was built in haste in order to get troops to the planet faster, but they could've at least made sure the walls were straight! The overhead lights were also subpar, constantly flickering, sort of like the sky on Dromund Kaas, which was constantly lit up with lightning.

"Yes, well, I've got a feeling that we're going to meet people who are suspicious of a Cipher agent that talks nonchalantly about pretty much everything when not addressing a superior, and a Mandalorian who likes money more than honor, so get your game face on, if you'd please." Just for show, she lifted her hand in front of her face, then brought it down, obscuring her face for just a second. When it was done, her constant small smile was gone, replaced by cold, emotionless eyes and a straight line for a mouth. "Now you." she said in her near-monotonous Cipher voice.

"Are you serious? I'm not gonna wave a hand in front of-"

"Do it, Tobias."

"There's no way I'm-"

"_Do it_."

The bounty hunter seemed a bit taken back by the intensity of those two words, but this mission was far too important to leave anything to chance. She didn't want herself or Tobias to get hurt. "Al…alright," he said, and did as she requested, with his casual, adventurous expression replaced by one that seemed equal parts stoic and ruthless. "Happy now?"

"Yes. Now, come, Tobias. We have to meet our contact." She walked off toward the exit to the ship, the Mandalorian following close behind.

As they exited the ship, they were immediately greeted by a scrawny Imperial man with a small bit of freckles, messy black hair, and dark green eyes. "Cipher Nine, it is an honor," he said nervously as the pair walked up. "I am Ensign Hertin, a temporary representative of Patro Kist. I'm on loan, in a manner of speaking. He told me to personally escort you down to the cantina where you would be meeting. Pau City is a big place, you know."

Diana gave the ensign a look that told him that this Cipher wasn't here to exchange pleasantries, she was on a mission. "Well then, Ensign, I suggest that you start. I don't like to be kept waiting, and my mission is of great importance. While on that topic…" she said, quietly pulling out a two-hour amnesia toxin contained within a syringe from her belt, "Are you aware of the details of my mission, Ensign?"

The small man quickly shook his head, a fearful look in his eyes. "No Miss, I am not knowledgeable of the mission's details; I was told only that it is critical that I get you down to meet with Patro. Now, let us be off. You can put that neurotoxin away. Please." He swiftly turned on his heel and walked away, though Diana could tell that he wanted to run. The Cipher followed suit, a little bit surprised that he'd noticed the subtle movements of her hand to grab the syringe. Shrugging, she put it away, and followed Hertin out of the hangar.

When she got out, she was amazed at how busy the place was. There were Imperials everywhere, conversing with some unfamiliar, tall, stately beings that she could only assume were the planet's natives. There were also several small creatures tinkering with faulty droids, which she suspected were another native species, as she'd been to virtually every planet in the known galaxy and had never seen them before now. As she made her way through the crowd, she saw several of the tall beings staring down at her, looking over her form appraisingly, as if deciding whether or not to crush this little insect that had invaded their planet. Others simply smiled at her, the tight-stretched skin stretching even tighter around the mouth, showing sharp, crooked teeth. The smaller beings wore overalls that were occasionally too big, and tended to keep their distance from the Imperials in general, though they conversed freely with the tall creatures.

"Geez, these natives make me feel both big and small at the same time," Tobias said, walking a slight bit behind her. "Do you agree?" He asked, a small smile on his face. She gave a very quick smile back once she did a quick survey of their surroundings and decided that no one would notice. "Yes, it would seem so. I find it interesting how such utterly different species have such friendly relations, as evidenced by the various conversations between the races. However, the tall ones were eyeing me like a slice of bantha steak, while the tiny ones keep their distance from all Imperials, especially the ones with blasters and badges, such as me. When you think about it, though, you can't blame them. I mean, we and our Empire suddenly discover this planet and establish a presence on it. Then the Republic discovers it and establishes its own presence, so the Empire tries to establish a bigger presence and because of that, the Republic does the same, so the Empire has to flex their muscles again, and it just keeps going back and forth. It's all maddening."

"Yeah, I get what you mean, but now's really not the time to be discussing our relationship with weird-headed midgets in overalls, and tight-skinned giants in robes. Let's try to keep up with Hertin right now." He stopped talking, so Diana did as well. They continued walking in silence the entire walk to the lifts, and remained quiet during the ride down. When they finally arrived on the correct level, the ensign swiftly led them to a very small cantina.

"Well, there you are," he said, turning and nodding curtly. "I have other matters to attend to, so I'm going to leave. No need to thank me, Miss. Service is its own reward." He quickly strode off, and as Diana looked back, she saw him exhale loudly and wipe a light layer of sweat off his brow.

She looked over to Tobias, and a small burst of laughter managed to escape the bounty hunter, which earned him a glare. "Damn it all… I'm sorry, Kro – Cipher Nine, but that was hilarious. Did you see him? I mean, really see him? He looked like he was going to drop a load when he finally got us here. What'd he think we were gonna do with him?"

The Cipher gave him one of her signature pinches. "Tobias, I appreciate your views on the state of people's digestive processes, but there are Imperials everywhere here. When we're alone, I'll let you blow off some steam and tell all the jokes you want. Not now, though." Before he could come up with something to say, she yanked him into the cantina.

The first thing she noticed was that none of the natives were anywhere in the cantina. It was completely Imperial-operated and Imperial-attended, which led Diana to believe that this hadn't been here before the Imperials came. She looked around the cantina for a minute, until she saw a green-skinned man leaning back in his chair, feet on his table, the chair back held steady by the wall behind him. He looked up from his drink and saw her, then motioned for her to come closer. Diana did so, seeing as this man fit the very vague description Darth Vatrus had given her.

As she got closer, he started to smile, and his smile only grew wider as she came closer. "Well," he said, "aren't you pretty? The name's Patro Kist, but you can call me Hot Stuff. Put her there." He held out his hand, which she refused to acknowkedge.

"Patro Kist-"

"Hot Stuff."

"_Patro Kist_," She said again, making sure to add some venom behind the words, "I was told that you had information for me that would help with my mission's progression. I assume that means directions, knowledge of codes, and other relevant information?" She suddenly realized that she liked being a Cipher. All she had to do was get intense for a second, and then everyone spoke about nothing but business.

Except for this idiot. "Now now, I don't like it when people get all high and mighty with me. I don't work for the Republic or your Empire, therefore, I'm not gonna get all scared when some upper-class Imperial agent tries to cow me by acting tough. What're you gonna do? Turn me in to the Sith for speaking my mind when I'm not even part of their little Empire? How is that fair? Now, I have information, but until you start being a little more nice to me, and call me what I asked you to, I don't think I feel like telling you anything other than the fact that you're amazingly beautiful."

Diana could have done that, but she had a much more efficient solution in mind. "Tobias," She ordered, "Hit him."

Kist barely had time to respond before the gauntlet-covered fist smashed into his face, breaking his nose in the process. "Agh! What the kriff!" Suddenly a smaller fist seized his hair, and the Mirialan's head was wrenched up so he could look into the eyes of a furious Imperial Cipher.

"Now, are you going to give me the information that I need, or do we need to do that again?" She then released his hair.

Patro Kist snarled. "I was wanted to have a little fun with you, and your response is to sic your goon on me!"

_'Looks like this idiot still doesn't get the message.'_ Diana thought with more than a little irritation. "Hit him again."

Tobias gave the Mirialan an uppercut, and Kist screamed in pain.

Before the idiot had a chance to whine, Cipher Nine growled. "Give me all the information you have that's related to my mission now, Kist. You can either tell me, or I can have my friend beat it out of you. _Or_," She said as a smile that sent chills down Patro's spine appeared on her face. "_I_ can beat it out of you. I think I've earned it."

"Man, "Kist groaned," you guys are really awful at the good cop, bad cop thing. You're like... bad cop, and even worse cop."

_'Okay, it's official: Patro Kist isn't just an idiot, he's kriffing retarded.'_

"Do you want me to..." Tobias offered as he made a fist again.

"No," Diana answered as she drew her pistol. "Let's just shoot him. This guy's way too dumb to be able to remember everything that we need to know, which means he recorded all the information on a datapad. We'll take it off his corpse, and if the thing's encrypted, I'm sure I can crack it."

Finally, the few functional brain cells that Patro Kist possessed came online. "Wait! Wait! Y-you mean this datapad showing the coordinates of the Republic stronghold where your target is located? Here, take it! It shows the easiest way to get to there from here, as well as the names of some of your target's generals and where they're located, in case you want to piss him off a little before you snipe him! Just don't kill me!"

Diana took the offered datapad, looked over the information contained in it, and nodded in approval. "I must say, Mr. Kist, this is quite impressive for an idiot such as yourself. To show my thanks, I will not only let you live, but give you some friendly advice: The next time you accept a contract - whether it's with the Empire, Republic, or anyone - instead of screwing around, _do, your, job_." She then noticed something at the bottom of the datapad. "What're those numbers at the bottom of the pad for?"

Patro's eyes widened. "Oh, those? Those, uh, form the code to tap into my personal holocom's frequency. I-if you need advice, or... anything else. I-I'll just delete those right now."

"You do that."

**SWTORSWTORSWTOR**

"Well, I'm glad that's over and done with." Tobias muttered as they speed walked through the city. "Who the hell did that idiot think he was? Was that his first job with the Empire or something?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, Tobias. Hopefully that moron learned his lesson, and we can focus on our mission. Now, I think we're far enough away from public eyes, so let's look at the directions on this datapad." She did just that, and stopped in her tracks, looking over the pad, inspecting it. "Here, it says that the best way to get to the coordinates is by landspeeder, so I guess we should rent a couple."

"Alright," said Tobias. "Let's start this mission for real, shall we?"

"I do believe that that would be a wonderful course of action," Diana said. With that, they went back to the lifts, got on, and went back up.

As they ascended, Tobias' eyes widened and he covered his face with his palm.

"What is it?" Diana asked.

"I just realized something."

"What?"

"We don't know where the hell the speeder rental place is!"

Diana considered this for a moment, and then mimicked his gesture.

"Dammit."

**AN: Yes, I know, it's awesome. I try not to brag, but, well... you read the story!**

**Also, Paragon said something about the interrogation scene being partially copied or something from some web series, so if anyone knows which one it is, feel free to tell me in the comments. I'll favorite your stoooooooooooriiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiies!**


	9. Chapter 8: Wan and Nalah

**AN: Here it is, after something like a month of waiting. I present to you... Chapter 8! *Applause* *cheering* Thank you, thank you. You're too kind, really! Anyway, I hope you like it. **

Chapter 8

WAN AND NALAH

Wan wandered around the ship, thinking about how he'd just royally screwed up. Not only had he pissed off his commander, but he'd also probably wrecked his relationship with Sergeant Molin. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that if Molin was wounded and he brought her with them anyway, he'd lose Moekno and Athos' respect, and most likely his job as well. On the other hand, he'd have a better relationship than ever with Sergeant Molin, with a possibility of romance. That was a horribly selfish way to think, though. The respect of two of the most elite soldiers in the Republic and his job on the same squad as them wasn't worth the life of a super-crush…was it? It was _her_, but… he was in _Havoc Squad_.

He eventually reached the engine room, and just stood there in the doorway for a moment, looking at all the machinery functioning. He'd always been naturally good with machinery; he was the tech expert for the squad, as well as the person in charge of briefing new recruits. That was how he'd built up such a nice relationship with the sergeant, and when he'd initially started to have feelings for her. He studied the engines closely, the way they hummed and vibrated bestowing a strange sense of calm upon him. Wait… the hyperdrive engine was abnormally loud. Perhaps he could do something about that…

He returned to the room a little later with a basic toolbox. The large man went over to one of the panels on the hyperdrive engine, opened it, and peered inside. "Mmhmmm…"he muttered, looking more closely. After a few minutes, he thought he could discern the problem. The engine was a standard Czerka Hyperdrive Model 7 with specially ordered reinforced panels, wire insulation, everything, to make it more resistant to both wear and tear and sabotage. Unfortunately, the boys at Czerka were, in a word, douches. They gave you the technology half ready, and then sent you a horribly unclear instruction manual. Luckily for Nalah, she seemed pretty good with engineering, and the hyperdrive was running smoothly enough. Wan's, however, ran faster, and he knew how to make that happen here.

The captain had somehow deciphered and followed Czerka's instructions, but there were ways to make it faster and less noisy. He simply put the large red wire next to the purple one, rather than the black one. After a few moments, the hyperdrive grew quieter, but vibrated faster. Perfect. He studied the rest of the interior workings, and made a few adjustments. He tightened some loose screws, rewired the circuitry, and greased up some things that seemed to be going a little too slowly. He worked for a few more minutes until he heard someone clear their throat behind him. He turned to find Captain Atar staring at him. "And what, may I ask," she said, arms crossed, "are you doing to my engine?"

Wan grinned sheepishly. "Look, I swear on my rank that I didn't sabotage anything. I simply made it run a little more smoothly. You can check it if you want."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." The captain walked over and peered inside. "The hell did you do, soldier boy? The wiring is all reconfigured!"

"Yes, I realize that, but listen to the difference now. It's not as loud as before, plus, the engine's vibrating faster. You should notice a roughly five percent power increase."

The captain nodded absently and listened for a moment. "Huh… I'll be damned, Lieutenant. Good for you. You really should ask before you touch my stuff, though. I realize you don't know me, but just for future reference, half the stuff on my ship is rigged to blow in one way or another. Luckily, most of it will just cause dents in the floor, but some of it can and will blow up half the ship."

"That's nice to know." Wan shivered involuntarily, grateful he hadn't accidentally set one of _those _off. His day was going badly enough already.

"Isn't it, though?" Nalah turned back to him. "Now, I can see that you're down about something. Let me guess…it's about the green-skin, right?"

"How did y-"

"It's woman's intuition, bud. Now, you like her right? Well, whatever you did, fix it. Boom! Problem solved! Honestly, I don't get why so many people can't figure that out. Just do what you didn't do or apologize for what you did do."

"It's a little more complex than that. You see, she's mad because I didn't tell her something, but it's classified information."

This brought a laugh from the captain. "Screw 'classified information'! Look you want to get with her, right?"

Wan flushed. "No comment."

"Of course you do. If you really want to have a relationship with her, you'll tell her not only what's classified, but how you feel. I've always done that, and… well, the guy I liked usually never talked to me again. But that's not the point, see? That's my two credits on the whole thing. If you want her that badly, you'll tell her what the hell is up."

"You don't understand, Captain. I could lose my job if I tell her, or worse. Moekno can be absolutely ruthless when he wants to be. Yes, he fails at opening wine bottles, but the person who was here before the 'green-skin', as you call her, got left at Aurek Base on Hoth because she broke her arm. When she finally showed up on Coruscant, she tracked down the commander and kicked him in the head before leaving Havoc Squad for good."

Nalah whistled. "Why in the _hell _would you serve under him if he did that? Does he give you shiny guns or something? I know that if he gave me shiny guns, I'd stay. What does he bribe you with?"

"He doesn't bribe me with anything. It just feels good to kill Imps alongside three of the greatest soldiers in the Republic. It's quite fun, actually. Have you ever chucked a bomb at an Imperial commander?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Well, have you ever blown twenty holes in one person within five seconds?"

"Yes."

"Well, you're no fun to tell stories to!"

The captain chuckled. "Yeah," she said, "I kill a lot of people, more than I'd like, actually. Not everyone I deliver goods to always agrees with my policies. I try to argue with them, and they start pulling out guns. Obviously, I don't like being shot, so I pull out my guns quicker, smack them in the face, knock 'em down, step on their chest, and threaten them. If they disagree and struggle, I shoot them. Sadly, a lot of them struggle. The point is, though, I personally think you should just tell her, and then tell her _not_ to tell Commander Abandon that she knows. Isn't it that simple? I think it is. Maybe I'm missing something, but again, that's my two credits."

Suddenly, there was a familiar whooshing sound, and the sensation of the ship moving stopped. The captain perked up. "Well, this has been nice, mostly cuz I made a soldier blush, but we're out of hyperspace and in orbit around Dromund Kaas. I should probably get to the bridge to fool the guy who calls to verify." With a wink, she walked out. Wan followed a few seconds later.

When they reached the bridge, the captain went straight to her chair. The rest of Havoc was standing at the sides of the door, just out of the line of sight. Wan joined Athos at the right side of the door. Commander Moekno and Sergeant Molin were standing on the left side, giving him annoyed looks. Moekno gave him a look that said, _Idiot. Don't screw up again, or we're all dead, and I'll make sure that you're first_, while Molin's was much less stern, and more inquisitive than angry or judgmental. Wan sensed that she wasn't really cross with him, just annoyed that he'd keep information from another member of Havoc. He was about to say something, when he heard the miniature holoterminal start up. Now was not the time to talk. Now was the time to let the captain do her thing.

**SWTORSWTORSWTOR**

Nalah stood and waited quietly as the holoterminal started up. Eventually, the image of a stern-looking Imperial with a truly ugly beard and more wrinkles than her grandmother appeared. She switched her accent to that of an upper-class Imperial as she spoke to the man. "Sir, Watcher 31 of Imperial Intelligence reporting in per Section B, Paragraph 27 of the Imperial Interplanetary Rules and Guidelines Handbook, which states that all Imperial personnel other than Sith, cipher agents, and the Minister of Intelligence must report in any time they reach a new planet."

The man smiled a little under his miserable excuse for facial hair. "Ah, yes, Watcher 31. We meet again. You probably don't remember me, being busy with all of your, well… Watching, but I'm Admiral Vilarik Sturn, commander of the Imperial forces on Dromund Kaas. It's good to see someone who still acknowledges the book. How have you been?"

Nalah nodded. The two had spoken on several occasions. For some reason, he seemed to think that they were chums, and she let him believe it. In truth, she hated the man. Every time they spoke, he got off-topic and started rattling on about how nobody had any respect for protocol anymore, the Empire was doomed if it kept up this disgusting lack of propriety, blah blah blah. She didn't really remember any of their conversations in detail; she'd almost fallen asleep during most of them. Nevertheless, he liked her, and that was good, so she went with it. "Ah, yes, Admiral Sturn," she said, returning the smile. "How have you been?

The man's smile grew wider. "I've been doing quite well lately, thank you. How about you?"

This led to a conversation that lasted a full ten minutes before Nalah just couldn't take it anymore. "Well, I have to be on my way. It was nice talking to you." The accent was really starting to bug her; she hated talking like this. How did Imps even _get _such a stupid accent in the first place?

The admiral smiled once more. "Good to talk to you, too, Watcher. You are clear to land. Glory to the-" He stopped talking. "Did you-Did you hear something, Watcher? It seems to be coming from your end of the holo."

Nalah turned and found the big human, Athos, trying to make himself as thin as possible against the wall. The captain surmised he was trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening due to the length of the conversation, and had made a misstep on the rusty floor panel - a rookie mistake. Nevertheless, the disturbance threw her off balance. She _hated _it when things went wrong, because she almost always messed up afterward. As she turned around to assure the admiral that nothing was wrong, her accent slipped. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said as calmly as she could, but only realized her mistake a few seconds later. _Oh, kriff… _she thought as Sturn's friendly eyes turned hostile.

"Your accent… that's a Republic one, and you seem to speak with that one much easier… by the Emperor! MEN! Republic ship! I repeat, Republi-"

Like a shot, Nalah had turned off the holo and was back in the captain's chair. "Hey, Havoc! Thanks to your giant of a squadmate there, we're most likely screwed, so strap yourselves down. We're going for a ride!"

**SWTORSWTORSWTOR**

Wan's eyes shot open, and he all but lunged into the co-pilot's chair. _You have _got _to be kidding me! _he thought over and over again as he strapped himself in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Moekno screaming at Athos, but couldn't hear anything; his heart was beating too fast, and blood roared in his ears. He knew he wasn't supposed to panic, but the situation was just too high-pressure. "Captain," he said, trying to keep his voice steady, "can you get us down to the planet without getting us killed?"

The captain looked at him and burst into laughter. After a second, she stopped. "Oh, you're serious. Of course I can, soldier boy! I'm me! Now, let's see how that modified engine works." She revved up the engine, and the ship shot down toward Dromund Kaas.

They were immediately met with opposition. Ten _Furies _came out of nowhere and started shooting all at once. Luckily, the captain was the best pilot Wan had ever seen. The ship had easily dodged all the blaster fire so far, but it just kept coming. As they flew, twisting and turning through space, Wan wondered about something. "Captain," he asked loudly, trying to make his voice heard over the sounds of battle from outside the ship, "why do you think they're freaking out so much about a single Republic-aligned ship in their space? Why not just get one of their ships to ambush us and be done with it? They're sending _Furies _after us, here!"

The captain looked at him blankly. "Wow, for being the Republic's best, you people sure are dull sometimes. Let's see if I can explain this quickly and easily: this is a _Republic_-aligned ship in _Imperial _space. That's not supposed to be possible. If word got out that all the Republic needed to do to infiltrate Dromund Kaas or other Imperial worlds was plaster on a decent accent and pretend to be a Sith or an Imperial Agent, the Empire would be, if not basically dead, at least in a lot of trouble, and they'd have to spend billions of credits - credits that not even they have - on new star destroyers, advanced security systems, and, worst of all, have to fill out _lots _of paperwork. I realize that you guys don't do it much, and neither do I, but it can drive people insane in hours. Plus, for all they know there are already Republic troops somewhere on Dromund Kaas, and we could be transporting new ones, weapons, rations, or any number of things to them. Now, if we made it down there alive, well, it would be devastating for Imps and Sith everywhere. _That_ is why they are shooting at us with ten kriffin' _Furies_! Now, _please _let me concentrate on piloting so we don't explode in a burst of hellfire, alright?" Nalah turned back to the controls as she spoke, ending the conversation.

They dodged for quite a while, and Wan was actually starting to think they'd make it unscathed to the planet's surface. However, the universe apparently felt like being a jerk to him and his squad, because the ship's perfect integrity was obliterated when a stray shot hit the right thruster. The ship shook, and the captain cursed. "Oh, damn."

Wan gave her a confused look. "What? What happened?"

She gave him a sheepish grin. "Well, you know how I said that half the stuff on my ship is rigged to blow in one way or another?"

Wan thought about this for a minute, then gave her a "you've-gotta-be-kidding-me" look. "So… you're telling me that you made the right thruster…"

"Uh-huh."

"Which is already vital enough…"

"Yeah."

"EXPLOSIVE?!" Wan screamed the word. He leaned back in his chair and put his hands over his face. "So we're going to crash now, and even if we do survive, we'll be stranded on Dromund Kaas for stars know how long? I mean, why did you even make the thruster explosive?"

Nalah sighed heavily. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. If I was killed and someone stole my ship, I'd at least like them to die as well, in one way or another. Plus, I sure as hell wasn't expecting to be doing things like _this _when I decided that smuggling was for me, thank you very much, soldier boy!"

Suddenly, a massive _BOOM _came from the engine room, and the ship began plummeting toward Dromund Kaas at an alarming rate. "Alright, Havoc!" Wan shouted back at the other members, "I realize I'm not the commander, but I think that it would be in all of our best interests if we weren't on this ship when it blew up! Now, I strongly suggest that you get in the escape pods! Unless those are explosive too…" He glared back at the captain.

She looked down at the floor. "Just the one farthest left. And the middle one. Oh, and the one farthest right. Luckily, I have enough for all of you plus me, so we're good."

Wan sighed in relief. "Alright, Havoc, let's go, let's go! Move it!" he shouted, and sprinted toward the escape pod. He got in, punched in the numbers, and waited only long enough for everyone else to get in before launching his escape pod. It took a surprisingly long time, and he found himself getting claustrophobic. He hated being in confined spaces that he couldn't easily get out of.

As the escape pods all launched, Nalah's voice chimed in through a linked intercom: "You owe me a new ship, Havoc, and don't you forget it." Wan promised himself he would make sure she got one… if they survived.

**AN: And there it is. Special thanks to Laryn Chillbreeze, probably my biggest fan, from what I can tell, for betaing this chapter due to lack of Paragon. She did a remarkable job, and I'm sure she'll do the same on Chapter 1, which she's working on as I type this, and, possibly, future chapters, seeing as Paragon's on friggin' hiatus.**

**Either way, I hope you liked it, R&R, all that crap, get ready for Satele and Vatrus next!**


	10. Chapter 9: Satele and Vatrus

**AN: Oh. My. Goodness. I can't believe how long I made you guys wait for this; I'm so sorry! I spent most of this year suffering from severe partial writer's block. I could write fiction assigned to me to write, but all of my individual projects received almost no attention. I'd nearly completed this chapter in August, but then MOAR WRITER'Z BLAWK! Anyway, the part near the end irks me a bit, but I hope you guys like it. And I can almost certainly promise you'll never have to wait _this _long for a chapter again. Enjoy!**

Chapter 9

SATELE AND VATRUS

Satele read her book for a half hour after meditating for five minutes, but quickly became bored. She knew it all, damn it; she'd memorized it when she was a Padawan. Reading the same precepts, codes of conduct, and historical events over and over again was indescribably dull. She had to admit, Vatrus had proof to back up his claims that the book was boring.

Instead of reading or meditating, she resolved to ponder the events that had taken place over the past day. It was quite the day, too. She'd been knocked out, wounded, captured, and taken to the capitol of the Empire, then thrown into her second ray prison of the day. Not only that, but she'd also reconnected with one of her favorite Jedi, after not seeing her for years.

She wondered how Jaesa had made the decision to go with Vatrus in the first place. Satele strongly believed there were other places she could've gone, other things she could've done, than go with the Wrath. But that was not her place. Jaesa had made her decision, and she seemed very happy here, even if she was living with a Sith. Who was Satele to judge, to say what should've been done differently? She hadn't even been there.

She turned her mind to Vatrus' crew. It was a pretty diverse bunch in terms of both personality and role in the crew. First there was Jaesa, an ex-Jedi of all things, then Broonmark, the galaxy's most hateful Talz. There were also three other crewmembers, two male, one female. The female was a blue-skinned Twi'lek who looked to be a bit older than Jaesa. She guessed that this was Vette, as the name really didn't seem to fit with either of the two men, both humans. As for those two men, they were very different from each other in many ways, from what Satele could tell. One of them had cornrows and an unkempt beard, with dark brown eyes and a gruff expression. He towered almost a half-foot above the other man – Quinn, Vatrus had called him -whose eyes were blue. Quinn was clean-shaven, with a thin face, black hair, and perfect posture. He was likely a high-ranking Imperial of some sort, as he seemed to show exasperation whenever he talked with Vette for too long, and it was obvious that he could barely tolerate being in the same room as the other, larger man.

Vette seemed to be very energetic, always laughing and smiling. If she was originally a slave, though, why wasn't she one now? Did Vatrus not believe in owning slaves? Either way, she appeared to be just as much a part of the group as Jaesa, Broonmark, or the two humans. Unlike most Sith, Vatrus also didn't seem to be racist, allowing both a Twi'lek and a Talz to have equal rights and voices. The most interesting thing of all was that they all seemed to coexist peacefully, more or less, on the ship, despite the vast differences between all of them. Perhaps it was because they were all united under the same flag… the flag being that cocky yet charismatic Sith Lord.

Finally, she turned her attention to the Emperor's Wrath himself. This man had to be the strangest and most non-stereotypical person to have ever existed. Every other Sith she had met was a horrible, corrupted creature which radiated darkness and killed as easily as blinking or breathing. Not Vatrus. He could have killed her, and it would have caused the same undoubtedly-occurring unrest as capture, but he didn't. Vatrus had said something about killing her ruining the chance for "boatloads of fun", but Satele suspected that I was just as Jaesa had said: Vatrus wouldn't even consider killing an enemy who couldn't fight back.

That was another thing. If that was his policy, then how did he get anything productive done? Even Jedi Masters were wary of him, but were common soldiers, civilians, and the like really so terrified of this one man that they would just drop their weapons and let him win? If that was so, then there were some serious morale issues within the entirety of the Republic. If Jedi and high-ranking soldiers were the only ones that actually fought back against Vatrus... how was the Republic still standing?

This thought stayed with Satele as she sat down and began to meditate again. It wasn't easy, but she forced herself. A Jedi had to be vigilant in her pursuits. How Satele wished that weren't true.

**SWTORSWTORSWTOR**

Vatrus walked through his compound towards the training room. It took him much longer than he'd expected. He sighed as he remembered that he lived in a gigantic underground estate which occupied nearly half the inside of one of Dromund Kaas' highest mountains. There were, admittedly, some irritating drawbacks to being exceedingly rich and powerful, with new donations coming in twice a week. _'Ah, first-world problems,'_ Vatrus thought with a grin as he continued walking.

When he reached the training room, he wasn't surprised to find both Broonmark and Jaesa there, sparring with vibroblades. The members of the crew often did this, among other things, to keep in peak combat condition; being a companion of the Emperor's Wrath meant fighting, and lots of it. Plus, sparring and a shower before dinner not only made one feel refreshed, but it also made them a hell of a lot hungrier than they were before, causing dinner to taste phenomenal, even with his 2V unit's subpar cooking.

Vatrus watched the two spar for a while, Broonmark going on the offensive with his gigantic vibrosword while Jaesa went on the defensive, jumping around a lot and parrying with a rare and surprisingly expensive double-bladed vibroblade. Vatrus could easily see that Broonmark would win this one, and suspected that Jaesa did, too. Broonmark was too good at mindless slaughter to be beaten by one who preferred to negotiate with or Force persuade before attacking. Jaesa also missed roughly seven takedown opportunities and a few strikes which could have easily ended the match. Broonmark's eyes widened the first three times as he made mistakes and expected to lose, but he seemed to realize that he couldn't be beaten, and just stopped caring. Eventually, Jaesa slipped up. Broonmark batted her vibroblade away, then quickly slashed at her side. He stopped just before he hit her, of course, but Vatrus knew if he _had_ hit, Jaesa would have been cut in half. The two ceased combat and bowed.

Vatrus clapped, and his companions' heads shot towards him. Apparently, they'd been too focused on the match to notice his presence, so they were shocked to find him standing there.

"Very nice, Broonmark; you're getting much better. Jaesa, you missed about ten opportunities to take our Talz friend down with minimal effort and no chance of him blocking you. I must admit, I'm a bit disappointed. Either way, Jaesa, you may leave, if you wish. Broonmark, I'd like it if you sparred with me for a bit. We have things to discuss, plus you look hungry for more action as it is."

Broonmark bowed his head. "[It would honor Broonmark to spar with Sith. We accept.]"

Jaesa bowed as well. "As you wish, Master. I rather fancy a shower, anyway." She turned on her heel and left. After she did, Vatrus walked over to the corner and picked up a vibroblade. He tossed it between his hands, getting a feel for it. "Honestly, Broonmark, I don't see how you can wield one of these all day. They're so bulky and hard to carry! Why not get something a bit less unwieldy?"

"[We like the vibrosword. It has been our weapon for many, many years. Good for chopping heads off.]"

"I'll concede that much. Either way, shall we spar?" He walked forward, bowed to Broonmark, waited for him to bow back, and entered a defensive stance. Broonmark went immediately on the offensive, slashing left and right. Vatrus parried, ducked under one such slash, and made an upward strike at the massive Talz's face. Broonmark sidestepped and countered with an overhand blow, which Vatrus dodged. As they sparred, Vatrus chose to add some conversation. "So, Broonmark," he said as he sidestepped a slash, "what do you think of our little Jedi guest?"

"[Little Jedi Shan?]" Broonmark asked, parrying a thrust. "[Little Jedi is… tolerable. Still a Jedi, still weak and a pacifist. We accept her, but we will not befriend her. Still, we fight for Sith clan. Order us, and we will do it. Do not forget, Sith.]"

Vatrus smiled as he made a move for Broonmark's legs, only to have his opponent easily avoid it and come in for a decapitating swipe. "Don't worry, my big blue friend. I won't make you do anything you don't want to. From how you talk, it seems that includes engaging in conversation."

Broonmark gave a grunt as he was nearly swept off his feet by a careful low kick from Vatrus. "[Is Sith trying to distract Broonmark by talking about little Jedi?]"

Vatrus gave a mock gasp as he ducked under a sweep. "Broonmark! How could you say such a thing? I would never purposely distract you, just so I could win a simple sparring match!" His voice dripped with sarcasm. This time, though, it honestly wasn't for that reason. He really didn't know.

Broonmark started doing something that Vatrus believed was the Talz version of a chuckle. "[If that is not why Sith brought up little Jedi, then what is the reason?]" This made Vatrus freeze for a second after figuring out what the Talz was implying, almost earning him a vertical cleave. "Are you… are you implying that… by the Emperor, no, Broonmark! She's a Jedi."

"[Then why would Sith talk to her so much, give her such a nice room when Sith could have given little Jedi the torture rack, and tell and show her many things that most don't know about?]" Vatrus began to think about it, seriously considering what the Talz had said, until he looked into Broonmark's eyes and saw the easily identifiable satisfaction within.

Vatrus smiled wickedly, realizing Broonmark's ploy. "Well, my dear, sweet Talz," he said, suddenly going on the offensive and delivering blows in quick succession, "why not? If I have my way– and I always have my way – she won't be leaving here for quite a long time. Besides, there's only so much of you five I can take. Either way, even if I did feel for her, I still wouldn't let you use that to make me mess up." His grin stretched further as he saw Broonmark's eyes widen ever so slightly, realizing that the Wrath had discovered the plot to make him slip up. He had to give his big blue companion some credit; most Talz couldn't strategize at all. Broonmark's slight surprise exposed his left side for just a second, and Vatrus took the opportunity to make a quick horizontal slash at it. Broonmark realized his mistake just in time, parrying. Unfortunately for the Talz, the block threw him off balance, and Vatrus was able to deliver a Force-enhanced kick to the large creature right in the stomach, hard. It sent Broonmark flying back and onto the ground. Vatrus walked up to him, planted his heavy boot on Broonmark's chest, and pointed the vibroblade at his throat. "Yield," he commanded.

"[We yield! We yield.]" Broonmark said, and once Vatrus lifted his foot, he slowly got up, clutching his stomach. "[Was good match, Sith. We give you the victory. We will go cleanse ourselves.]" As he strapped his vibrosword onto his back once more, he turned back to Vatrus. "[Sith, we have a question.]"

"Hmmm?"

"[How did Sith know that we were trying to toy with Sith's emotions?]"

Vatrus smirked. "It was the eyes, Broonmark. Your eyes gave away your true intentions. If you'd like, one day, when I'm not taking care of our little Jedi friend, I'll help you not show it so much." He left Broonmark then, and went towards the kitchen.

When he got there, he saw his 2V unit working hard at dinner. It wasn't even a particularly hard meal to make, by the looks of it – just a simple bantha steak with gancho sauce – and yet the droid looked like it was about to short-circuit if everything didn't go exactly as planned. "Toovee." Vatrus said. At the sound of the Sith Lord's voice, the droid jumped high into the air, letting out something akin to a robotic shriek. He turned around and bowed very low, lower than was strictly necessary.

"Oh, Master! What a pleasant surprise. Today, we are having grilled bantha steak wi-"

He was stopped by a lift of Vatrus' hand. "I know, Toovee. I know. I simply came to ask that you prepare a seventh plate tonight. We have an, er… special guest tonight. I assume that she'd like to eat, too, so take note of that." He turned and walked away to his personal dojo, where he had hundreds Baras figurines ready to be dismantled. As he walked, he noticed Quinn walking by. "Quinn," he said as they neared each other. "A moment, please."

The Imperial man stopped in his tracks. "Yes, my lord?"

"I was wondering if you could watch our Jedi friend until dinner is ready. I have training to do, so I can't really do it." Quinn stiffened as he heard the request, but he nodded curtly anyway. "I'll get to it immediately." He continued walking, this time in the direction of Satele's "quarters", if one could truly call them that, considering she was –well - imprisoned. Vatrus smiled and continued walking.

**SWTORSWTORSWTOR**

Satele was roused from her meditation by the sound of footsteps outside her little room. She looked up to see the clean-shaven Imperial man from before. "Oh, and who might you be?" she asked. This earned her a quick, almost unnoticeable glare.

"I am Captain Malavai Quinn, Master Shan. I was instructed to watch over you by my master, the Emperor's Wrath, or Darth Vatrus, as he's more commonly known. He did not go into detail, but I assume that includes me standing here, watching you oh so very closely, until dinner arrives and… I don't know." His tone became more bitter and sarcastic. "Perhaps the Wrath himself will come to keep you entertained. For now, I shall simply wait. If you are truly so bored, I will allow you to engage in a brief conversation with me. Oh my, it appears that we already have, right here and now! Truly amazing, if I do say so myself. Now, please, be quiet." He turned around and looked away from her.

Satele, not one to be deterred so easily from a meditation break, pressed on. "Well, Captain Malavai Quinn, I don't exactly agree with you. In my book, a verbal exchange must last at least three minutes to be considered a brief conversation. Since you offered to engage in one, I suggest we begin. You go first."

Quinn turned back toward her, not even attempting to hide his scowl. "If I must. Alright, topic sentence: Why won't you leave me be? You were meditating. Why don't you continue doing that, rather than chit-chat mindlessly with some Imperial that you've never met?"

This brought a smile from the Jedi. "You've never meditated before, have you? Well, don't try it. It's primarily just sitting there pondering the various mysteries of the universe. Some Jedi spend entire days doing it, which I've never understood. I can understand why the Jedi meditate in the first place, but to do it for such a ridiculously long time seems a bit of an overreach."

Quinn's eyebrow shot up at this. "Oh? It is my personal belief that prolonged study and perseverance are the bread and butter of a successful career, no matter what profession one might pursue. It likely applies to the Jedi as well. Long sessions of introspection would likely unlock some sort of revelation about oneself, as I'm sure is popular in your Order. Likewise, if one spent a long enough time pondering what they know and comparing it with other data from elsewhere, they might discover, say, something interesting about the Force that nobody realized. Great strides in hundreds of different fields could be made, all via meditation."

Satele grinned. Quinn cocked his head. "What now, Master Shan?"

"Oh, I was just pondering what you said, which was actually quite good, mind you, when I realized that you started a very interesting conversation, even though you did not wish to."

This brought an obviously involuntary smile from the Imperial. "It would seem that I have. Now, on to why you, specifically, refuse meditation. Why is that? As the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, I feel you of all people should be the most willing to meditate."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. At some point…"

This lead to quite the conversation. It started out being about the pros and cons of meditation, but quickly changed to things such as Imperial and Republic politics, the differences in philosophy of Jedi and Sith, and the all-around unpleasant demeanor of almost every Alderaanian nobleman whichever existed. The topic Satele found most interesting was the one about philosophy. She had to admit, while she'd never even think about following it, the Sith Code made sense. The dark side was the way to incredible power with not too much effort, but it corrupted even quicker, and when one began using it, it was near impossible to stop. The only Sith on record who had ever been redeemed was Revan, her ancestor.

Before Satele knew it, an hour had passed, and Quinn stood there for a full five minutes, talking about what he felt about the whole alien oppression thing within the Empire, completely oblivious to the Sith Lord who stood directly behind him, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently. He wore a rather grumpy look, and Satele actually had to fight the urge to laugh. Eventually, Vatrus got bored waiting and tapped Quinn on the shoulder. The Imperial man gave a rather girlish shriek, and spun around. When he saw who it was, he smiled sheepishly. "My lord, forgive me." This brought a hearty laugh from the Wrath.

"You know, Quinn, I usually only get those reactions from Vette. Never in all my years would I have suspected that a full-grown man's voice could reach that high a pitch. Now, _honey_, be a dear and check on dinner, would you?" He gave another chuckle as Quinn turned on his heel and swiftly strode down the hall.

After Vatrus calmed down, he turned to Satele. "Sorry about that, Shan… but I'm not really. He's a remarkable ally and a certifiable genius in more ways than one, but, well… you heard him not fifteen seconds ago, shrieking like some little girl who lost her doll. I hope he didn't bore you too much with talk of alien rights."

Satele gave him a quick, barely perceptible smile. "Oh, no, it was fine. You're right about the brilliant mind thing. It was a very interesting conversation. You're going to have to step up your game now, Vatrus. This could be tough."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll manage. Tell me, while we wait for news on our meal… why a saberstaff?"

Of all the questions he could have asked, Satele hadn't expected _that_ one. Before she caught herself, she parroted, "Why a saberstaff?"

"Yes! Why a saberstaff? Why not two single blades, or just one? I realize that you're going to say personal preference, and I don't accept that. _Why_ do you prefer it? Why that and not something else?"

A deeply thoughtful look came over the Jedi's face. It was actually a pretty good question. Why a double-blade and not something else? "Well, Vatrus, the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that most people – notice I said 'most', you lucky bastard – are too focused on one end of the blade to keep track of the other, and pretty soon, you have that person in two parts at your feet. Another thing is heft. I find one single-blade too light, and two of them too heavy. The balance of a saberstaff, in my opinion, is just right."

Vatrus smiled. "I'll admit that that was a good answer. That wasn't very interesting, though."

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm not feeling particularly talkative. It's definitely not because you locked me in a room with nothing to do but meditate or anything."

"Uh-huh. I'm not so sure that's the entire thing. You talked to Quinn just fine! He almost never talks, and I know he can be horribly boring when he does. What is it, Shan? Am I too cold? Too heartless? Too undeniably attractive? Come on, woman, give me something. Is there anything at all?"

Vatrus smirked as Satele's eyebrows shot up. "Undeniably…attractive?"

"Yes, Shan, undeniably attractive. Don't pretend you don't love it. Or are the rumors true? Are Jedi so ridiculously detached from emotion that they can't feel physical attraction? I mean, come on."

Satele was taken aback by the sudden attack. "Well, of course we feel emotion. We laugh and cry and act like normal people, but-"

She was interrupted as Vatrus began to laugh. "'Act like normal people'? You Jedi fools actually think that acting like you have a stick shoved up your arse day and night is how _normal_ people behave? When was the last time you had a truly emotional moment? I ask because, last I checked, normal people have emotional moments. What do Jedi have? A smile now and then?"

Satele frowned. "Don't be a child. As I was saying, we act like normal people, but we don't let our emotions get the better of us. This is why the Jedi have prevailed again and again in the past." This brought yet another arrogant grin from Vatrus, as if he knew something she didn't. "Oh, so that's why you've won, hmm? Is that what you think? You believe your precious Jedi have won all these times because of our emotions? It's partially true, I'll give you that, but that's not the main reason. No, the main reason is because of power plays and other political nonsense."

"Power plays?"

"Yes, Shan, power plays! Most Sith are -obsessed- with gaining more power. It doesn't matter if you have three thousand minions, a gigantic estate, and the ability to obliterate a small city with a bit of lightning; there's always something that someone else has that you don't have that you want. And so power plays ensue. They can range from subtle manipulations in court to full-blown attacks. I've been the victim of a few power plays, myself, actually. As you can see, it didn't work. But anyway, _that_ is why you always win."

He opened his mouth to continue, but the sound of metallic droid feet approaching cut him short. "I beg your pardon for the interruption, Master, but dinner is ready."

"Thank you, Twovee. We'll be there shortly." He smirked at Shan's shocked expression when he powered down the particle shield, extended his arm in a gentlemanly fashion and asked, "Satele, if you would accompany me?"

Satele blinked a few times in shock, then stood up and hesitantly took his arm. "Of course, Vatrus. It's not like I have much of a choice, anyway, do I?"

Vatrus' grin grew wider. "No… no, you really don't." With that, the two proceeded down the long hallway toward the dining room. "Oh, and Shan?" Vatrus said nonchalantly.

"Yes?"

"Don't even think of trying to escape. Because if you do, I won't have to lift a finger – my crew will be more than happy to beat you down for me."

"Lovely."

**AN: ****Thanks once again to Laryn Chillbreeze for her betaing of this chapter. It wouldn't flow nearly as prettily without her.**

**Oh, also, how would you guys feel about a small interlude chapter, perhaps involving the Inquisitor and maybe the Consular, just cuz? I think that'd be spectacular, personally.**


	11. Chapter 10: Nox

Chapter 10 - Interlude

NOX

Darth Nox casually strode into the room, unsure if it was healthy to be so happy that he was about to crush someone's spirit and likely shatter some bones. He wore purple robes with dark purple shoulder ornamentations, as well as a black-and-gold mask with two pitch-black holes for vision. The hood was up, and his lightsaber hung casually at his wait.

Khem Val strode behind him, an ever-present precaution just in case anything somehow managed to pose a threat to the Dark Councilman. The massive Dashade's armor was died black and red, and that grim expression was seemingly the only one he was capable of wearing; Nox hadn't seen anything else in all the time they'd known each other. A massive blade was strapped to his back, and his eyes darted back and forth suspiciously.

The prisoner on the ground was a scrawny Republic wretch, found out in the Taris wilderness near an Imperial outpost. He'd been taken up in chains to the Imperial orbital station, where he had been waiting interrogation for a day or two now. He was finally going to get it… and it was going to be splendid. Nox had been on Taris strictly on other matters, but when he'd heard about this case, he had simply _had _to do the interrogation himself, unconventional though it may be for a Councilman to do so. It had been far too long.

The soldier's eyes widened as he recognized the mask; he knew what was to come. Even better. Darth Nox was occasionally referred to as the "Breaker," in honor of his ability to break the spirit and get answers out of everyone he questioned, no matter how resilient, or so he'd been told. Such nice things people said about him…

Nox strode directly up to the pathetic thing on the floor and got down on one knee, so that his face was level with the soldier's. "So you have the stones to look me in the face, do you? I'm impressed." He then casually used the Force to fling him into the nearest wall. There was a satisfying _crunch _as something snapped, and the soldier slumped against the wall, clutching his side. "Wha…" he began, but he felt himself being turned around and his head being slammed once, twice, three times against the wall. His nose was broken. A tooth was missing. Where was it? Oh, there it was.

As the soldier crumpled, Nox walked forward. "There's more where that came from, worm, I assure you," he said in a gravelly baritone, a tinge of amusement in his voice. "Believe me, all of that was just a taste of what is to come if you don't tell me _exactly _what I want to hear. Now, explain to me: why were you near that outpost?"

The man slowly shook his bloodied head. "I-I assure you, S-Sith, I was only, lo-um, lost. That's the word. The rest of my squad was killed by rakghouls and they busted our long-range communication and navigation equipment. I was just trying to find a Republic base." This brought along a five-second silence, and Nox seemed to believe it. Then he turned around. "Khem," he said.

"[What is it, my master?]"

"Come over here and backhand this pathetic creature for me, would you?"

In a flash, the Dashade was there, delivering unto his face a backhand so fast and powerful Nox was surprised the soldier's neck didn't snap. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), his head simply snapped to the side as he cried out in agony and was thrown a foot or two to the right. "Thank you, Khem."

"[Any time, my master.]"

Nox moved back in front of the man, knelt down, grabbed his head, and wrenched it so the man was looking at him once more. "A poorly constructed lie, Republic scum. Tell me the truth."

"That _is _the truth, I swear!" At this, the Sith Lord actually _hissed _in displeasure. He fired off a weak surge of electricity directly into the man's face, causing his entire body to convulse and a weak cry to escape his lips. "It. Is. _Not,_" said Nox, watching him shake. "I find it highly unlikely that a fully-trained squad of soldiers wasn't able to hold off a simple pack of rakghouls with minimal losses. Even if they _were _able to overwhelm you, they certainly wouldn't leave any survivors. Even if you were fairly far away, those mutated bastards have surprisingly keen noses and can run a whole lot faster than you can, I assure you. And to top it all off, most rakghouls don't have nearly enough brainpower, nor any reason, to destroy _every last bit of long-range communications equipment you have._ You are a pathetic excuse for a liar and just for that…" Nox whipped out a vibroknife from his belt. "… You just lost a joint."

The knife flashed and suddenly the soldier's right ring finger was a joint short. He stared at its grotesque, bleeding form for a moment before crying out. Or, at least, he tried to do so; Nox's fist in his gut immediately forced all the air from his lung, causing him to gasp. The Darth casually shot a small spark out of his left index finger, hitting the wretch's finger stump and instantly cauterizing the wound. He leaned in until face was mere inches from the soldier's. "Now," he said, "Tell. Me. The. _Truth._"

The soldier considered weeping, but thought better of it. That wouldn't help any, and besides, it wasn't like he had that strong of a will. He knew he was done for. "I… I stand by what I said. It's the truth… and if you don't like it, you can… can kill me, Sith." He steeled himself for the inevitable beatdown, looking into the Sith's eyes with fiery conviction.

The Sith's… _eyes._

Nox had taken off his mask.

The soldier made a pathetic attempt to scramble back as he gazed into those soulless red eyes, a vibrant crimson the color of blood. Nox's skin was deathly pale, with his putrid veins popping up all over, especially around his eyes. His skin was dry and cracked as the Sith Lord gave him the most devious grin he'd ever had the absolute displeasure of witnessing. The aura of darkness radiating from Nox seemed to grow even stronger than before, something that the soldier would've thought impossible. As he gazed into those eyes, he felt his will to live being sapped away, the hopelessness of the situation overtaking him. Why fight? Why resist? Surely it was easier to just submit. After all, it wasn't as if the Republic stood any chance with this… this _thing _on the other side.

Nox's grin stretched further, exposing surprisingly white teeth. "You can feel it, can't you?" he asked, leaning in. Stars, even his _breath _reeked of death and destruction. "The hopelessness, the despair? Of course you do. Of all the people I've used this trick on, only one was able to resist, and I had no real confidence that it would work on _him _anyway. That bastard… anyway, I think it's quite obvious that not only do you have secrets you're desperately trying to hide from me, but you don't have enough willpower to resist more than a few seconds."

_'The eyes,' _the soldier thought. _'It's the eyes that make me feel like this. I just have to look away…' _He made a move to do so, but he was quickly immobilized. With a thought, Nox flung the man against another wall, producing another _crunch. _He held him there, spread-eagle, completely unable to move. The Councilman sauntered over oh-so casually, and leaned in once more. The soldier had no choice but to look into those terrible eyes, to feel all hope being sapped away, to feel all his will to resist flee him. "Now," Nox said, leaning in so that their faces were almost touching, "You. _Will. Submit!"_

His eyes flashed purple, and the hopelessness suddenly increased tenfold. The soldier made one last attempt to do something, anything, to break the Sith's hold, but it was no use. "Strike force," he whispered. He gasped as Nox punched him in the stomach. "What was that, worm?" he asked.

"Strike force!" the man screamed, somehow finding the strength to do so. "There's a large strike force… stationed a few miles west… from where you found me. I was scouting ahead, to… to see what kind of defenses the Imps had. They're not supposed to attack until I come back with information, and since it hasn't been that long since you captured me, there's a chance that they're still there, waiting for a report. You could… you could find them, flush them out, slaughter them mercilessly like you Imps always do."

Nox smiled once again. "There. That wasn't so hard." He released his hold on the man, and he fell to the ground, now weeping openly. "Now, now, no need to cry," he said, chuckling lightly. "You only betrayed your comrades and earned them almost-certain annihilation. Keep that up and you just might make it as an Imperial. "Or…" His grin widened. "I could just leave you here to rot, force you to live with the fact that your allies, your friends, are totally doomed. Yes, that seems like fun." He turned to leave, putting his mask back on. "Oh, and a final parting gift…"

There was a light smacking sound as the man's finger hit him square in the face, poking the eye and dropping in his lap. "Enjoy," Nox said, striding out of the room, Khem following close behind.

"Well, that was fun, wouldn't you say, Khem?" Nox asked as they strode down the hallway, towards his ship.

"[I will admit it was enjoyable, my master.]"

"I thought you might think so."

"[I have one question, though, my master, if you are willing to hear it.]"

This gave the Sith Lord pause. "Yes, Khem? What is the question?"

"[Who was the man your powers did not work on?]"

At this, Darth Nox smiled under his mask. "Ah, yes, that man. I believe Nikos was with me when I first met and fought him over some boring issue or another; of course you wouldn't remember. He actually managed to beat me quite handily. I believe I introduced you to him at dinner once; Darth Vatrus was his name," He paused. "Hmmm, we haven't spoken in quite some time. I wonder how he's doing…"

**AN: So that was fun. It was actually done a while ago; I just delayed posting it for some reason. I forget why. Anyway, I hope you enjoy; thanks again to Laryn Chillbreeze for her... well, she actually said it was amazing without editing, so, uh, thanks for your support! Moving on; do you guys think he should interact with Vatrus and Satele? That would be fun to write, I think. Let me know if he should and to what extent!**

**And, before you ask, yes, I know how the story's going to end. It's just exactly what's going to happen getting there that I have a problem figuring out. Any tips would be appreciated, I assure you.**

**Anyway, I have a debate paper to write. Blech. See you!**


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